Smoke and Mirrors
by The-Lesser-of-two-Goods
Summary: Sequel. Cora has returned from her search for her Nobody empty-handed, but a suspicious person that resembles old enemies appears, with all the realm powers on his side. What's he planning? Can Sora and co. defeat him and save Cora's Nobody from herself?
1. Cora's Return

**Author's Note: Welcome to the final fanfiction in the Forgotten Heart saga! If you haven't read them yet, go read The Forgotten Heart, Shedding a Light and Dark Dreams, the prequels to this one. I hope to make this story the most intense out of all of mine so far, and I'm sorry if the beginning is a little slow.**

**Disclaimer: I know way more than any American girl should know about the three new Kingdom Hearts games, but it doesn't mean that I own Kingdom Hearts. I do, however, own my OCs and my plot.**

* * *

_**Chapter I:**_

_**Cora's Return**_

_"Rebirthing now_

_I wanna live for love, wanna live for you and me._

_Breathe for the first time now._

_I come alive somehow."_

'Rebirthing' by Skillet

It was storming out. Radiant Garden was showing in less than all of its beauty, and probably dim in the sky to every other world which it was a star to. Thunderstorms had been very frequent lately, but then again, spring was just ending. It was nothing to worry about, the world would not be swallowed up if it _was_ a Heartless invasion. Vice was always too prepared for it, even if he was dead asleep.

A knock on the giant castle doors at midnight caused Vice, who was once again sleeping in front of a window in the foyer, to wake out of a dead sleep. He didn't know what he was more curious about- why someone was at the castle doors at twelve in the morning, or why it hadn't woken neither Naminé nor Roxas. They were, after all, extremely light sleepers.

Vice ran a hand through his hair, tousling it, before he strode to the door and opened it without even looking to see who was, and saw the silhouette of a female figure in front of it. He could not see who it was, and no doubt could she not see who he was, but they both knew.

"Official business?" Vice asked mockingly, barely moving except to cross his arms.

"Official enough," came the girl's voice. It sounded the same as Vice had remembered it from... how long had it been since she last visited Vice, Naminé and Roxas in the Radiant Garden Castle? That was right- five months.

"What happened?" Vice asked, "Xemnas revive himself and capture you for half a year?" It had been almost a year since the girl had left- for the first seven months, she visited constantly. Then, immediately it seemed, she had stopped.

The girl was silent for a moment, "It hurt to keep coming back here," she finally spoke, "and realizing that I would have to go back on my search. So I stopped coming."

"What changed your mind?" Vice asked.

"A lot," she admitted bitterly to both herself and the former Heartless, "my Nobody's gone. I heard from Kasa, that a strange girl was at her world for about a day before she disappeared, and they haven't seen her since. I've looked in every world I could find, and even served in a few to help them fight the Heartless for a while. She's nowhere."

"Maybe she's been killed," Vice suggested.

Vice couldn't see it, but he could feel the smirk on the girl's mouth, "_My_ Nobody? Something tells me not."

At that, Vice invited her in. In the light, he could see her perfectly. Choppy brown hair with one black layer that was mostly grown out by now. Brown eyes with strings of gold wrapping around the pupils, a black circle around the iris. She was taller again, or maybe he just wasn't used to seeing girls at the height of five-feet-seven-inches and forgot how tall she really was. She was thinner now, probably from lack of nutrition. The girl was wearing a black and white shirt with a tie in the back similar to a kimono, jean shorts, ankle-high shoes and fingerless gloves.

"Cora," he said, after finally getting a good look at her, but could not find any words to follow it. Immediately, he bent over a couple of inches to pull her into an embrace, one that took a moment for her to return. They simply held each other for a moment, but when they pulled away, Cora's eyes reduced themselves to slits.

"Vice," she started, "there's red in your hair."

Vice's eyes, contrary to Cora's, widened at that statement, and he practically rushed into the kitchen, where a small mirror hung on the wall. One small, red streak of hair glistened in the light. He backed up a pace after staring at it for a while, willing himself to believe it wasn't there. He hadn't seen red hair onhis head in two years.

"This couldn't mean...?" Cora began, walking into the kitchen.

"There's no other explanation for it," Vice said, shaking his head.

"What's all the racket a..." a voice came, but as soon as Cora and Vice flipped around, Roxas was silent. Naminé, who was standing close behind him, but a hand to her mouth and smiled. As if the two had just won a trip to Hawaii, they ran up to Cora, beaming, and hugged her until she was sure she couldn't breathe anymore.

Vice shook his head, trying to keep the thought out of his mind. "Come on," he said, leading them to the living room. As if they needed to be told where it was- it was right near the kitchen, after all, "tell us everything that happened."

Cora sat down and shifted uncomfortably. It didn't seem she was quite used to sitting on anything plush for her year-long journey. "Sit tight, then," she commanded them, "because it's a long, long story."

"If that's the case," said Naminé, standing up and causing Vice to sigh, "We need to get Sora, Kairi, Riku, Raelyn and Umeko over here."

"What about Coy?" Roxas asked, but Naminé shook her head.

"Eventide Mountains needs its prince."

Naminé called Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn, who were over at Destiny Islands, and Umeko over at Eventide Mountains. They all agreed that Cora better tell her story in the morning, when everyone would show up. Until then, it was still around half-past midnight, and everyone, including Cora who had been relatively metaturnal during her entire solo journey, would need their rest.

Unlike her last visit, Cora was given a separate bedroom from Vice. The first thing she noticed as she walked in was a mirror from across the bed. She laughed ot herself lightly. _My room back in Twilight Town had a mirror,_ she thought to herself, _but I always moved it out of the way before I fell asleep. I always felt as if someone was watching me._

Cora's face, which was smiling, began to frown, and upon further inspection of the mirror, she felt it gave her bad vibes. Maybe she had been away from a decent room too long, or maybe the fact that her eighteenth birthday was coming up was scaring her enough to be screwing with her head. She found herself reaching for her locket, the one that was no longer around her neck. It was a habit she still had to break.

* * *

**The Next Morning...**

"It's been long enough, Cora," Umeko smirked, looking at her friend. Umeko's hair had grown several inches, and she had grown slightly taller, as well, but still not as tall as Cora was. The dirty blonde, whose hair was slowly washing away in a sea of incoming brown, was wearing a blue t-shirt and a pink skirt, with white arm warmers and long, white boots.

"Aw, Umeko, you still impatient?" Cora asked in a mock sugary-sweet tone.

"You still punctual?" Umeko asked back, putting her hands on her hips.

Despite Cora's attempt to look serious, a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips, "Caught me," she admitted, and they both started laughing before they hugged, the fourth one that Cora had gotten all day. She could swear that she heard a little bit of sobbing from Umeko.

"You dumbass," she scolded her best friend, "leaving like that, visiting for a while and then never, ever dropping a line again. I thought I did something wrong."

"You didn't," Cora said, giving a sad smile, "I did."

Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn burst through the door. It wasn't that they were unexpected, it was just that they could have knocked. **Author's Note: That would be annoying. If, in every Kingdom Hearts world, Sora would have to knock to go into the buildings. Dx** "Well, well, well," Sora said. Kairi giggled, and Riku smiled.

"No more hugs," she said, "I've gotten four already."

Raelyn was grinning big now, and when she walked over to Cora, she slapped hands with her and pounded her fists into hers, her standard greeting. "Cora, dude, what's been happening with you?"

"I'm about to say," Cora said, laughing, not quite used to being called 'dude', "but it's a long story."

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Raelyn, Umeko, Vice, Naminé and Roxas all sat down to listen to Cora's story. "It started only a few days after I left," she began, "I had just come from a visit to Nothing's Daybreak. I think Vice and Umeko should remember that. When I landed in Song's Shimmer, I came across Kasa. She said that she and Axel met a girl just like me, except she had black hair, but her eyes were the same. But some strange man, who they could swear was wielding a keyblade, asked her to walk with him, and she did. They didn't see her again after that.

"So I scaled Song's Shimmer for the entire day and didn't find anybody. I traveled to every world I've ever known, sometimes spending as much as a week in them searching for any sign of my Nobody, but nothing. But I did get a lot of cool stuff done. I went to Land of Dragons and helped the Chinese army, which is now including women, thanks to Mulan," Cora smiled, "and I helped Jane with some research in Deep Jungle... and so much more."

"Sounds like you had fun," Umeko pointed out, grinning.

Cora smiled, one that barely reached her eyes, and nodded, "Yeah. But I went to another check at Nothing's Daybreak recently. I hadn't gone since the very beginning of my journey. You know that entire world's abandoned?" Umeko and Vice nodded their heads, "The locket that Umeko left there, the one with Keir, Vaughn and Dallas's darkness in it. It was gone."

Umeko's smile faded almost as fast as it appeared before.

"But there's no sign of danger so far," Cora reassured them, "but I am afraid, and I think that soon, something's going to happen. Partly because the locket's gone and so is my Nobody, and partly because the forces of darkness tend to work annually." At that, even Vice managed to smirk for a moment.

"I want to go to Nothing's Daybreak and look for any signs of tampering aside from Cora's locket being gone," Vice said, standing, "and if Sora wants to help out, he, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn should go to Song's Shimmer."

"Of course we'll help," Kairi said, smiling, "it'll just be a little... odd to not be able to wield our keyblades when going to another world for... business."

"If you see Heartless, I'm sure they'll appear," Cora said, and for some reason, everyone began to laugh.

* * *

**? ? ?**

"The process on Thomas has already begun, then?" the girl with black hair asked her boss, who was in his mirror room. It was a room where three of the four walls were complete mirrors, and the last wall held the door and old reports that the boss had picked up on his journeys. He often went into that place and just stared at the mirrors. Every one of the mirrors displayed a different reflection, all moving as he did.

The girl with black hair, however, was a little more unnerved when she went to see her boss in that room. Three different reflections were also displayed for her, the three that her boss never quite did explain to her. One was a girl that looked just like her, but instead of her black hair and bottom layer being brown, they were flipped around. Her skin was also a little pinker, but besides that, they were twins. On the mirror that they were facing, was herself, completely the same. On the right was a Neoshadow, moving as she did.

When her boss did not answer her, she asked, "Will you explain to me these mirrors now?" she asked.

Her boss smirked. "Kione, I think it's about time you knew." He paused for a moment. "Each of these mirrors show people for who they really are in the light realm, the realm of in between, and the dark realm. The one in the light realm, to your left," he motioned to the brunette girl, "is your Somebody. She's still out there."

"What's her name?" Kione asked, her voice oddly full of alert.

"Another time," the boss said, his mind still on the mirror, "the one in the front is you in the realm of in between. That would be you right now, because you are a Nobody. The one on your right is the Realm of Darkness. That is the Heartless that your Somebody turned into when her heart was stolen."

Kione nodded, and walked over to the mirror on her right hand side, and put her hand to it. "It's like it's swallowing me up," she admitted, and then looked back at her boss, "Boss," she began, "your reflections look like they make you up, too."

The boss nodded, glancing again at his reflections. "But my reflections aren't my Somebody, my Nobody or my Heartless. I'm neither one of those three, after all, Kione." He said nothing more to the girl, but turned back towards her. "It's time for you to go to the Underworld. Hades still has six years of servitude promised to your Somebody, so he can't deny you your commands."

"What would those be?" Kione asked, confused. Her boss had never briefed her on this yet.

"We need to revive two people, and we'll need their free will."

Kione paused. "It's rare if a person survives after being reborn by Hades," she admitted, thinking back. When Hades pulls people out of the darkness, they live like normal, but when they're pulled out of the dead, that was a different story."

"One of them is from the darkness," he said lazily, glancing at the darkness side of his mirror, "and I don't expect them to be here that long, anyway. They're more of... distractions," he admitted, and walked out of the room, leaving Kione to stare at her Somebody, herself, and the Neoshadow.

"It _sounds_ so simple," she stated, pulling out a hairtie and putting her hair up, and walking over to the small side-table in the room, putting a hat on her head and sunglasses. Her boss had warned her against showing her face in a world that her Somebody had been in. It seemed that girl had been in all of them.

**Author's Note: Very short, I know, but it was the first chapter and just introducing everything. I'm sorry it was a bit slow, but I'm very excited for this conclusion to the saga. I've got a lot planned also; I've even drawn out Kione and her boss, who does have a name, but you'll learn that later. Please review!**


	2. Free Will

**Author's Note: I didn't think I'd make it here, but here I am, chapter two! Thank you Igor Lollipop for your review, and I hope any readers that I do get are excited for this last fanfiction in the saga. I've got plenty planned for this chapter, including something you may have remembered from Ansem and Xehanort. You'll see when it gets there. Please read and review!**

* * *

_**Chapter II:**_

_**Free Will**_

"_No, I don't wanna battle from beginning to end._

_I don't wanna cycle or recycle revenge._

_I don't wanna follow death and all of his friends._"

Death and All His Friends by Coldplay

* * *

**Nothing's Daybreak**

"It's so dark here," Cora noted, her eyes reducing into slits in concentration. It was noon at the latest, but clouds were blocking the entire sky... was it going to storm? The clouds weren't dark. When in doubt, ask Vice. She turned to the man, who seemed just as confused as her. Absently, the former Heartless ran his hand through his hair. Cora's stomach did a sommersault; another streak of red had appeared in his hair again.

"Vice..." Cora began, but Vice cut her off.

"We have to get going," he said quickly and sharply, and Cora furrowed her brow. She looked at Umeko, who just shrugged, and then to Naminé, who smiled sadly. Roxas was only looking at his feet as they walked through the long valley.

"Empty," Vice muttered, but nothing more, "I can't think of a kind of clue that would be left in such an empty world." Suddenly, he stopped, and Cora, Naminé, Roxas and Umeko stopped behind him. On the ground was some mound of dirt, standing out very easily against the green grass. As Vice was about to reach down at it, a rumbling of the earth disturbed them.

The five backed up a few paces, and a Heartless like they had never seen before- the first one they had seen in a year- appeared before them. It resembled an Angel Star, but was at least ten times bigger and colored black and red, "Not a Rhapsody, not a Rhapsody," Umeko had to mutter to herself. The effects of the Rhapsodies had never quite left Umeko.

It most definitely, however, was not a Rhapsody, as the Heartless emblem was clear on its somewhat triangular body. In a way, it was the prettiest and the scariest Heartless they had ever seen.

"It's guarding it," Vice said quickly, "whatever's buried underground is important."

"Danger, then?" Cora asked, and spread out the fingers on her hand; Ether Essence appeared in her hand, the weight reassuring and the grip warm as if she had been holding it the whole time. Vice, in the meantime, flexed his fingers like claws and his Dark Chakrams appeared in them. It wasn't long before they were surrounded by Shark Attack, Oathkeeper, Oblivion and Oathbreaker as well.

The Ultimate Angel Star cried out something like a screech before it dove down to attack the wielders. **Author's Note: I kinda made this Heartless up, but it is, in fact, based off of the Angel Star. **Cora, having had practice over the year wielding swords and other given weapons, was the first to knock the Angel star to the side. At that, Vice shot out a Chakram, but it caught the other one in its mouth and spit it on the floor.

When Umeko rushed up to beat on the Heartless, it dodged out of the way and hit her to the side with a wing, but not before knocking Roxas backwards with some kind of light attack. "That's not fair," Roxas said, half-pouting, "Heartless shouldn't be allowed to use light magic!" Copying a move he learned from Riku, Roxas threw Oblivion forward like a boomerang, and with Oathkeeper, knocked the Ultimate Angel Star down as Oblivion distracted it.

While the Heartless was down, Naminé was quick to attack it, but it recovered halfway through her beating at it, and grabbed her with its wing.

"Fire!" Cora shouted, not quite used to using magic, and the small ball of fire rushed at the creature, and it dropped Naminé. Roxas ran up to where she was falling and caught her, holding her bridal-style.

"That was close," he said, smiling nervously.

"Yeah," Naminé agreed, and after a moment, she added, "you can put me down now."

"Right, I was just about to do that," Roxas said quickly and set her down. It was almost cute how, after two years of being together, they were still so awkward. Almost cute. It would have been cuter if the Ultimate Angel Star wasn't right behind them, but Umeko managed to mimic Roxas with Shark Attack, and barely caught it. Still, it sent the Ultimate Angel Star backwards, and disappearing into the air. Munny and health was left behind as always, but that was not what had interested Vice.

He looked back down at the mound of dirt. "Guys, use your keyblades to dig it up."

"You heard him, Roxas," Cora said off-handedly, "use your keyblades to dig it up."

Roxas sneered and began to dig at the mound with Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Cora, Umeko and Naminé seemed satisfied that they wouldn't have to get their weapons dirty with any mud or bugs. Roxas was less fortunate.

* * *

**Song's Shimmer**

"Look here," Riku said, and Sora turned around to see. On the concrete path next to the street was a pair of footprints, which ended abruptly at an extremely random area, inside of the concrete. "Somebody left these when the concrete was still wet."

"What if they just got up on their bikes and rode the rest of the way?" Kairi asked, but Raelyn shook her head, concentrating deeply.

"No," she murmured, "there would be bike tracks."

"But how do we know that those are Cora's Nobody's footprints?" Kairi asked now, a little frustrated as she crossed her arms. She felt a little bit of satisfaction of knowing that she was possibly right, however, when Sora shook his head.

"We don't," he admitted, "but they're suspicious and they might be."

"I just didn't think they'd be stupid enough to leave their tracks in wet concrete. Cora's not that scatterbrained," Raelyn stated, "maybe it was dark when it happened and they didn't realize it was concrete, thinking it was mud or something."

"Well, whatever it is, we should backtrack them," Riku said, and Sora, Kairi and Raelyn all nodded their heads eagerly. So far, none of them had seen any sign of their previous friends, until they found Dolan, standing literally two feet away from them as they flipped around.

He put his hands up in mocked surrender after seeing the looks on their faces. "Did I scare you, Riku?" he asked, looking towards his old friend whose eyes narrowed. He still couldn't quite get over that Dolan, who used to be shorter than Riku, was now over a foot taller than him. "And I thought you guys would miss me."

Kairi sighed, half-laughing and half-shaking. "Of course we missed you, Dolan, it's just..."

"Bad timing?" Dolan asked, looking at the sky as he wrinkled his nose. "Any time is bad timing to be scaring someone out of their mind lately."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You haven't noticed?" Dolan asked. "The skies are getting darker and darker every day. It's the clouds. They're getting thicker and thicker every day, and we can't see the sun. I thought maybe that's why you were here."

"I noticed that at Destiny Islands," Raelyn said, nodding, and everyone turned towards her, "I'm completely serious. It's getting darker, but it's not just here, man."

"We weren't here to figure that out," Kairi admitted, "Cora had her heart stolen a year ago. It was returned to her, but we were looking for her Nobody, which Kasa and Axel said that they saw around here. Or any signs of her. And look," Kairi motioned to the footprints stuck forever in the concrete next to them, "so we're backtracking."

Dolan nodded thoughtfully. "I'll come with you."

Suddenly, the sky darkened slightly, and keyblades appeared in the group- One Nightmare for Dolan, Ultima for Sora, Destiny Blade for Kairi and Way to Dawn for Riku. Raelyn, getting the picture, called upon her Staff of Snakes. Four Neoshadows appeared in front of them. "So I take it the worlds are in trouble," Dolan stated.

Sora nodded, "Let's get 'em!" **Author's Note: Wow, I don't think I realized how much I missed Dolan until I started writing with him again. xD He's gotten a lot more lighthearted since Shedding a Light, couldn'tcha tell?**

The Neoshadows, of course, were gone in an instant. It would take a lot more than a few Pureblood Heartless to stop them, especially considering their practice. Even Dolan seemed to have kept in shape during the two years in which he hadn't been fighting, excepting when he had briefly fended off some Heartless from Song's Shimmer the year before.

"They don't want us to follow the footprints," Raelyn laughed as they continued.

"That's too bad," Sora said, cracking his knuckles excitedly. Piss and vinegar- that was Sora.

* * *

**Nothing's Daybreak**

Vice read over it once, twice, three times before he even considered handing it to the group. What they had found in the dirt mound was an old-looking piece of paper, but it might have looked old because it was covered in dirt, but still legible.

_Apollyon's Third Report of Eight_

_The tower is much less empty-feeling with Kione, which is odd because she is a being of emptiness._

_She has adapted to absolutely every room in the tower, much like a human being, except for one room in particular; my mirror room. When I discovered and decoded the mirrors myself, they fascinated me... I cannot begin to understand why they would have the opposite effect on a Nobody, without emotions._

_I'm sure that she will begin to ask questions. I can already feel the thoughts burning through her head... 'who are the three separate boys on every mirror and why do they move like you do'? That answer will come with time. What she should be more concerned about is why she can see her Somebody, Cora, herself, and a Neoshadow when she stares into the mirrors._

_Light, in-between and darkness. Not a difficult concept, and Kione shouldn't have a difficult time understanding it. With my constant monitoring, I have noted her similarities to Cora... though myself, I cannot begin to explain why I know Cora so well._

_Though the research on Kione continues, the research on my own origin is still beginning._

"I don't understand half of it," Cora admitted after a moment of silence, "but there is something I can pull out of it... Kione's my Nobody, isn't she?" Cora asked, looking up at Vice, who did not answer her. Umeko, Roxas and Naminé looked over it after her.

"I think you're right," Roxas said.

"And this Apollyon?" Naminé asked, seemingly most wary about whoever had written this report, which was the smartest idea.

"Kione's companion," Vice suggested, "Cora mentioned Kasa telling her that she walked off with a man and never came back. But the details..."

"The... mirror room," Cora gulped, and she had the faintest memory of, early that morning, at around one in the morning, staring deep into the mirror in the room she had been given before falling asleep. It gave her the chills.

"If we ever make it to Apollyon's tower, when we find out where that is, something tells me that'll be the first place we'll want to go," Roxas noted, nodding his head.

Umeko, however, shivered similarly to how Cora had, "I beg to differ. I think that'll be the _last_ place we'll want to go." At least she got a laugh out of Cora, Roxas and Naminé before Vice took the report and shoved it in his pockets.

"That's all we'll find here," he said gruffly, "we have to go back and pick up Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn at Song's Shimmer. We've got what we need here."

"All we have is my Nobody's name, her companion's name and some crap about mirrors. How is that all we need?" Cora asked, slightly angry at how irritable Vice had become. Why was he acting this way?

"We also know," he started quickly, "that he knows you, he has memories of you, some that he doesn't even understand. Reading context clues, I don't think that he's a Nobody. That makes him important, and it makes him a threat, and _that's_ what's important. We have to kill him."

"Oki had memories of me," Cora said, though her voice was shaking slightly, "Oki had memories of me," she repeated, "but you wouldn't have killed her just because that was true, would you?" he asked her.

"Cora," Naminé said lightly, "Oki had an explanation from one of us. Apollyon... nobody here has ever heard of him. And when I say nobody, I mean neither Roxas nor myself as well," she admitted.

Cora looked at Naminé for a while, not wanting to believe that she was siding with Vice. Still, she had been defeated. She nodded, crestfallen, and followed Vice to Umeko's Gummi Ship, the largest one they had.

* * *

**Song's Shimmer**

"Seems like everything leads back here," Dolan joked, but it wasn't very easy to keep a light heart in a graveyard, right next to Blaise's grave. He jerked his head back to Kairi, who had just continued a little farther, though she shook her head.

"There's no more concrete past this point," Kairi began, "even if they did go somewhere else before going to Blaise's grave, then we'd never be able to find it." Sora hung his head down and glared at the grave for a moment, before kneeling in front of it and squinting at the corner of the gravestone, deeply confusing the others.

"This wasn't here the last time we came here to seal the world," Sora said, looking at a small, red checkmark on the corner of the gravestone that seemed to be made out of crayon or something of the same consistency. "This had to have been done by Cora's Nobody and whoever she went with."

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Riku warned him, "but you might be right."

The five of them were distracted as they saw a Gummi Ship landing overhead, back to where they had began. Sora sighed; they needed more time. Leave it to Vice to always get his job done early. The brunet looked over at Dolan, a pleading look on his face.

"I'll keep an eye out," he promised.

With that, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn bade Dolan a farewell and ran up to the Gummi Ship and inside.

Almost immediately, in fact, before any greetings, Vice handed them the Apollyon Report. At the sight of the title, Sora said, "You don't think that Apollyon has anything to do with Ans... I mean... Xehanort, do you?"

"Personally, I think they just have similar ideas," Vice said, not quite looking at Sora.

Sora, however, a little less 'beat around the bush' than Cora, pointed out immediately, "Vice, now you've got two red streaks in your hair."

"Just read," Vice snapped, and then he opened his eyes widely and shook his head. "Sorry," he said, "it's been a long day." He wasn't used to being that irritable; the only time he ever used to be, and that was even seldom, was back when he had gone by the name of Thomas... back when he was a Heartless, and even a year after. He shuddered at the thought.

"Don't worry about it," Cora said, reassuring him by putting a hand on his shoulder. Vice's head snapped to look at her, and his slightly surprised expression (could it have really been surprise?) relaxed. He smiled, looking into her golden-strung brown eyes. He didn't worry about it; not anymore.

* * *

**Underworld**

This place smells something terrible, was the first thing that ran through Kione's head as she walked down the stairs to the Underworld, the smell of rotting eggs and waterlogged souls growing stronger and stronger the farther down she walked. Almost immediately as she reached the doors to the Cave of the Dead, two small imp-like devils had stopped her.

"I'm Pain!" said the fat, red one.

"And I'm Panic!" said the pencil-like blue one. **Author's Note: At the Disco.**

"And we can't let you through!" Pain and Panic both said together. Kione looked at the door behind them, expressionless, and then back and Pain and Panic. She couldn't leave now; she didn't want to deal with her boss's ranting and raving all day.

"Why not?" she asked out of pure curiosity; whatever it was wasn't about to stop her from continuing through.

"Renovations," Pain replied.

"Lots of renovations," finished Panic.

"Only the dead allowed through," Pain added.

"Oh well," Kione said, bored now, and pushed the two imps out of the way as well as pushing the doors open and stepped through. The blue and red little demons tried to stop her from continuing, but she went through anyway. It didn't seem that any renovations were going on; was Hades expecting her?

Thankfully, no Heartless or Nobodies attacked her on her way to Hades's chamber. Why would they? They were on her side, after all, or that was what Apollyon had always told her. Eventually, thought the walk was long, she made it to Hades's chamber, where she found the flame-haired man toying with a small doll of some kind that oddly resembled a human.

Hades fumbled with the thing and dropped it as he saw who had entered the room. "You!" he shouted, "You're back. Did you do something with your hair?" He seemed to be a little freaked out by her.

Kione frowned. "You're thinking of my Somebody," she decided aloud, "I am her Nobody, Kione."

Hades sighed. "I should have known, you look just like her." In a very cartoon-like way, Hades poofed in front of her. Though Kione remained motionless, he began to pinch her cheek and slap her other one as he said, "Can't blame me for being worried, you look just like that tyke does. So what business d'ya have here in the Underworld," he grabbed her jaw and moved it up and down as he said, "Just say it."

When he let go of her jaw, she said, "You owe my Somebody six more years of servitude. You promised her ten. I am part of her, which means that you owe me at least three of those." Hades shifted uncomfortably where he was standing, "I need you to revive two people on my boss's orders."

Hades sighed dramatically and fell backwards with his hands on his chest like he was holding a bouquet of roses and eyes closed, but poofed back behind her, standing up. "Do you have any _idea_ how many people she's made me revive to the light realm already?! None of them even came from my realm! Go on, take a guess."

"Three?" Kione guessed boredly.

"In total, _fourteen_. _Fourteen people she made me pull out of the darkness!_ In a lovely time period of two years! Pulling people out of the darkness is harder than bringing them back from the dead, I hope we've got that clear."

Kione wasn't fazed in the slightest. "It's too bad you'll be pulling one more out. The other one is from the dead. You owe me three years of servitude, and this is all I ask of you. I'll also need their free wills. Do it," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"You're worse than she was," Hades huffed, "so who do you need back?"

"Two keyblade wielders, named Sienna and Blaise."

**Author's Note: That should be enough for now. Surprisingly, yes, I did plan on bringing Sienna and Blaise back. But Apollyon has their free wills... gasp, what is he planning? To be honest, I'm not even quite sure yet. We'll see how it goes? xD Anyway, please review, and thank you for reading!**


	3. Hallucinations

**Author's Note: And the story's finally coming together! Apollyon... You know, I originally named him Seth? Apollyon sounds a lot cooler, though. I'd give you guys a description of his appearance, but that would totally give away his origins. I'm starting to really like Kione. The origin of her name will be explained in an Apollyon Report later this chapter... I'm done boring you with this long Author's Note now. Please read and review!**

* * *

_**Chapter III:**_

_**Hallucinations**_

"_Oily marks appear on walls_

_Where pleasure moments hung before the takeover_

_The sweeping insensitivity of this still life._

_Hide and seek, trains and sewing machines._

_You won't catch me around here._"

'Hide and Seek' by Imogen Heap

* * *

**Underworld**

The tall, golden blond boy could barely comprehend why he was there, but he didn't have a reason to ask why, most likely because, in the form of a little doll, his free will was held by Kione. As was the free will of a girl he had never met before, one with platinum blonde hair and a streak of auburn by her face. She looked... very much like the Nobody, Anixens. Blaise remembered meeting her, but nothing more.

Sienna, meanwhile, was looking down at herself. She looked the same as she did the day that her heart was stolen. She remembered faintly being a Heartless, one with a heart consumed by the darkness. She never remembered returning to Kingdom Hearts, and also could not seem to understand why this girl, one that looked so much like Cora, had revived her from that darkness.

"Anything else _princess_?" Hades asked with a hint of sarcasm, but something in his voice revealed that there was a reality to that statement.

"What do you mean 'princess'?" Kione asked almost soundlessly.

"So whoever you're working for hasn't even told you who your Somebody is? Or was, rather?" Hades asked, practically laughing.

Kione, however, responded with a completely straight face, "Neither."

"Go home, kid," Hades advised her, slightly serious now before glancing over at Blaise and Sienna, "some things are better left to the imagination." At that, as if by the force of a strong wind, they were blow backwards and backwards, all the way back to the entrance of the Underworld.

The three of them were silent for a moment as Kione calculated Hades's words, but afterwards, she whispered, "Let's go, we have a stop to make," and they followed her, not questioning a thing, into a portal of darkness.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"There are a few things we can assume about this Apollyon guy," Vice said to everybody, sitting at the large, round kitchen table, much like Arthur's Knights of the Round. From left to right, sat Roxas, Naminé, Umeko, Cora, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Raelyn and Vice, who was holding the Apollyon Report in his left hand. "First off, he's the one that found Cora's Nobody and took her away. He doesn't know his own origins, or at least he didn't back when he wrote this report, but he knows Cora."

"He lives in a tower," Umeko chirped, "one of the first things he said."

"Based on this report," Cora began, "I really don't think we have to worry about Apollyon very much. Call me crazy, but his intentions only seem to be discovering himself. I don't know how long ago that report was written, and they've probably changed, but I think we have to worry about what Kione can do."

Everyone was silent, obviously not understanding her.

Cora sighed, "Remember two years ago, when Anixens was part of the Organization? Sienna, Umeko and I are part of the keyblade trio that each has a unique power. Sienna's changed when she had her Nobody; Anixens's power wasn't to pull out Nobodies anymore, it was the Rhapsodies. There's no guessing what Kione's might be as opposed to my creating hearts."

"Now that I think about it," Roxas said, blinking, "I've never seen you make a heart."

Color flushed to Cora's cheeks in embarrassment. "I've never consciously made one."

"When Cora was barely conscious, after I took Sienna's heart, I made her unconsciously give me a new heart, one that wasn't completely eclipsed in darkness so that I could function as a human as opposed to a Heartless. As a Heartless, I had the power of manipulation, especially because I was such a strong Heartless. It's true, though, that Cora's never consciously given anyone a heart."

Cora looked at her feet, "Like I was saying, that would mean that Kione's power isn't the same as me, so we can't premeditate anything. If we ever see her and she really is dong something... evil, if those are really her intentions, then we have to be careful."

"Plus, she's a keyblade wielder," Naminé added, "that much is obvious, because she's Cora's Nobody."

"_But she's not a _threat_ yet_!" Vice practically shouted, bringing his fist down on the table. There was a moment of silence before he calmed down again to collect himself. "It's difficult. We want to find Cora's Nobody and join her with Cora, do we not?" Vice asked, and most of the table nodded, "But what about Apollyon and his intentions with her? We don't know if Apollyon or Kione are actual threats yet."

"Then we should work on a way of finding her," Sora suggested finally after staying still and silent for an uncharacteristic amount of time.

"How do you propose we do that?" Kairi asked a bit stubbornly, crossing her arms over. "It's not like you feel them near you. Were that the case, we would have found Naminé and Roxas a lot earlier."

"We look for the Apollyon reports!" Raelyn gleefully exclaimed, shooting up in her seat, much to everyone's surprise. "Well, look. The dude pretty much spills everything on that thing. Because of that one piece of paper, we know his name, Cora's Nobody's name, that he lives in a tower and that he's connected to Cora."

"And if he's connected to me," Cora said, "he's connected to all of you, too."

"That settles it," Riku decided, "Sora, Kairi, Raelyn and I'll go look for the Apollyon reports."

"What do we do?" Umeko asked.

"You go home," Vice snapped, and then looked at Roxas and Naminé, "and you two stay here. It's got absolutely nothing to do with you."

"It's got nothing to do with you, either!" Umeko retorted, standing up to reach Vice, who had also stood up. "But why are you helping?"

"Because I care about Cora."

"_So do we_!" Umeko, Naminé and Roxas shouted together.

"Guys," Cora's voice came weakly from in-between the madness, cutting it off. She was rubbing her left arm with her right hand and looking down at her feet. "I've been travelling on my own this whole year. I've gotten a lot stronger, and I know my way around these worlds. I can go alone," she assured them.

"But that's the amazing thing about friends," Umeko began, "because of us, you don't have to."

Cora smiled, "You've got a point there."

"So we're all in this together," Sora said, nodding. "Besides, I'm pretty curious myself about where Apollyon came from. You guys ever heard of him?" Sora asked, looking at Kairi, Raelyn and Riku. All of them shook their heads.

"He might have something valuable for us," Raelyn said optimistically.

"You sound just like Yuffie," Kairi giggled.

"Then what do we do?" Umeko asked, excited now. These yearly adventures they all seemed to go on were starting to get more and more exciting every summer; it was like going back to camp after a long year at home.

The air was silent for a moment as they all thought. "Maybe we can try to find out why every world's covered in clouds and getting darker all the time. And while we're at it we can study the apparent and sudden change of melanin in hair," he finished, looking up through heavy eyelashes at his hair, slowly becoming streaked with red.

"Eyes, too," Cora said offhandedly, "your eyes are getting darker."

Vice looked over at her for a moment, and Cora put her hands in the air in a surrender. "I was just kidding," she said, "I just don't think we have to worry about it. But we do have to worry about the worlds getting darker."

"We should get home for now," Sora said, stretching, "it's late, and the worlds aren't going anywhere." With that, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn left the castle to go home. All of them anticipated scolding from their parents, except for Raelyn, of course. Their constant leaving home to risk their lives in combat put them in the worried state of a mother whose son has gone off to war- four times over.

"I'm going to go for a walk for a little while," Cora said, stretching.

"Can I come?" Umeko asked.

"Durr," Cora responded, sticking out her tongue.

"I'm more mature!" Umeko exclaimed, sticking out her tongue back at her. Vice, in the meantime, rubbed his temples.

"I'm going to go to bed early," he said, "I think I need sleep..."

"Apparently," Umeko mumbled lowly enough for him not to hear. They didn't see where Naminé and Roxas headed off to, but it was probably back to their section of the castle to get some sleep as well. It had been a long day, after all.

Cora and Umeko walked out of the castle in silence. It was only twilight when they began to walk around, and Cora finally opened her mouth. "I am sorry, you know," she began, and Umeko turned to look at her.

"For what?" Umeko asked.

"For not coming back for so long," she responded.

Umeko suddenly looked crestfallen. "You're forgiven of course, but... why did you do it? I know you did a lot over the year, but you couldn't have been _that_ busy." Cora knew that Umeko didn't mean any harm by that statement, but she winced nonetheless, mostly because she knew she deserved it, and Umeko deserved an explanation.

Cora considered her answer for a moment, and then chuckled to herself. "Two reasons, really," she finally responded, "the first one was that it hurt to keep coming back here and knowing that I would have to keep searching while all of my friends continued with their comfortable lives. It was easier to just abandon it all completely."

Umeko pursed her lips together slightly, but nodded. Apparently, she could understand that. "What was the second reason?"

Cora hesitated. "I wanted to see who would miss me. I wanted to see if anyone would miss me, who would forget me. I want to slap myself for it, though. It's been three years that I've been travelling with Sora and everyone else, and two with Vice, and something buried inside me tells me that they still don't want to be friends with me."

"Why's that?" Umeko asked as they sat down in the courtyard in the middle of the Radiant Garden, at the edge of the fountain.

Cora looked away from her friend, blinking hard. "It's everywhere, 'Meko. The darkness. It's in my thoguhts, my dreams... my nightmares. And every day when I wake up from those nightmares, I think of how I willingly stepped into the darkness four years ago. I tried to _kill_ Sora and the others, and even you, countless times. It's partly my fault that Sienna's gone. Every single adventure this group has gone on lately has been partially or directly related to me and my past, present, and future mistakes." Cora stopped herself when her voice started shaking.

"Cor... you're completely missing the point," Umeko said, almost laughing. Cora looked over at her now, and Umeko noticed that her eyes were red. "If you didn't go to the darkness, Thomas wouldn't have had help to find the eighth Princess of Heart, and Sora and the others and I wouldn't have to go after you or himself and stop you two."

"I know, I caused problems, I get that, and-"

"And you would have never made all of the friends you've got now. I would have never joined up with Sora and the others and _I_ wouldn't have become friends with them. You would have never given Thomas a reason to come back and you would have never brought him into the light. The list goes on and on, but most of all?" The question caused Cora to look up again, "We would all be living our boring lives in Twilight Town, going to _school_."

Cora smiled and wiped her face with her sleeve. Leave it to Umeko to make her laugh when she felt miserable. "I feel sorry for Kione," she finally said in a voice barely above a whisper about a minute or two after they were done laughing, "because she doesn't have some kind of an Umeko Nobody to become friends with."

Umeko smiled. "I guess Apollyon could sort of be her equivalent of Thomas, don'tcha think?"

"Don't even say that," Cora warned, and the two of them laughed again.

"That was sweet," came a voice that almost seemed like a distant dream to Umeko and Cora. Fearfully, they raised their heads. There stood a girl that looked no older than sixteen with a polo shirt and frayed jeans, and wavy, platinum blonde hair with an auburn streak. She was wielding a keyblade with thorns, one they recognized as Origins of Nothing. It was, however, behind her back, and she didn't seem ready to use it.

Cora and Umeko, in unison, rubbed their eyes and looked forward again. "Sienna?" they both asked, both of their voices entirely full of wonder and a slight amount of fear.

The girl simply nodded. How could she be so unenthusiastic? Sienna was back from the _dead_ and she was just standing there as if she had practiced it for months. "You'll have to tell Thomas I'm sorry that his darkening my heart didn't keep me down for too long."

"You can tell him yourself," Umeko smiled, "except he goes by Vice these days. He's in the light, remember?"

"We never got to properly thank you for helping us in the Realm of Color and with the Rhapsodies. Roxas told us that that was your Heartless. Or you as a Heartless, I suppose... but you're back now!"

"Save the thanks," Sienna said, too quickly to be safe. Umeko and Cora practically jumped back from the sudden retort. Sienna's hands, however, hung lazily at her sides, but she gave them a completely blank expression. "I'm not here to be friends. I work for Kione now," she stated clearly and harshly. There was something wrong with her; where was the perky, somewhat confused, leader-like and cosmetology-loving Sienna?

"What do you mean you work for Kione... Why?" Umeko asked, her eyes reducing to slits.

"What can you tell us about Apollyon?" Cora asked at almost the same time as Umeko, quickly and determinedly.

"I've yet to meet Apollyon," Sienna admitted almost conversationally, "but Kione told me to drop by to send you a message."

The two girls were quiet. "I don't understand why you're doing this, Sienna," Umeko said, "but you have to do what you have to do. What's the message?" Cora looked at Umeko for a moment, disbelieving, and then back at the platinum blonde.

"Thomas is returning."

The two girls were quiet before, open-mouthed, they stared at each other; Vice _was_ turning into Thomas.

"Sienna," Cora started, and then put her hand out towards the girl, but instead, Sienna backed up a few paces, and tens of Neoshadows appeared. As the girl backed up a few paces more, she mouthed something, and thankfully, Cora could lip-read. The problem was, Sienna looked like she was fighting against herself to do so. She had mouthed to them what looked like the words 'help me'.

Sienna then disappeared into a portal she did not create, and the portal disappeared with her, leaving behind a piece of paper. The Neoshadows were gone in instants, and Cora and Umeko ran up to see the paper. It was exactly what they had expected.

* * *

**Later...**

Cora had woken up Vice to show him the Apollyon Report. Surprisingly, he didn't seem irate about it, but Cora bit her lip when she looked at Vice's hair; there were now five red streaks in it, and his eyes, this time, really _did_ look darker, but it could have been the lighting. Vice read over the report.

_Apollyon's Second Report of Eight_

_I had felt her arrive at Song's Shimmer, so of course, I made my way directly there. She looked just like Cora, though I cannot imagine why I know what Cora looks like. She did not have a name, she didn't know why she was there._

_I took her for a walk and we talked for a while. I explained to her why she can wield a keyblade, what she is and how she could help me. Having nowhere else to go, Cora's Nobody followed me, and I gave her a name._

_Her name, I decided, would be Kione. A fitting name, too, with the meaning of 'Someone who Comes From Nowhere'._

_I promised Kione explanations and answers the longer she worked for me. This is possible for me to do, of course; for some reason, I know Cora so well. That face and that name keeps reappearing in my head. Not just that, but many others; this one only stuck with me because, I believe, it was my destiny to find her Nobody._

_This girl will help me discover my past, my birth. I feel like, rather than a human, I am an unbirth, but I have a beating heart and a working mind. The only things I remember are these: the locket, sealed darkness, a purpose._

_To become fully human, my own being instead of one created of other's darkness, I must need more darkness. I will eclipse the worlds in darkness, bringing the darkness out of another face I remember, one who was so strong in said darness that he was given a body of his own and a working mind and personality apart from his Somebody and Nobody: Thomas._

_I must bring out Thomas and steal his heart away, full of darkness, and replace it with my own._

_Then I will be human._

_Kione is... quite literally... my key._

**Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter took a while to get up, I actually got started right after I took a shower at about four thirty, after band camp, but then I started looking up hair color on Wikipedia for kicks and my anatomical curiosity, which eventually led to me researching conjoined twins... so I got a little distracted. Dx I'm sorry, and please review!**

**Oh, and P.S., the Unbirths mentioned in the Apollyon Report are actually going to be an enemy in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. They're suspected to be beings that were never born, but extinct by the time Kingdom Hearts I rolls around. I thought the concept was pretty cool.**


	4. The Making of Hearts

**Author's Note: Yay, I've got a lot in store for this chapter, including a visit to my favorite original world (though the storyline for it is not my own), Rural Woods. I really should come up with a better name for that... And aside from that, some speculation about why Sienna's acting the way she is. Hope you like it, please r and r!**

* * *

_**Chapter IV:**_

_**The Making of Hearts**_

"_The stars in the sky illuminate below_

_The light is the sign that love will guide you home._

_The stars in the sky illuminate below_

_If the world were to die, the light would guide you._"

'True Love' by Angels and Airwaves

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

Vice and the others woke up early the next morning. It was too late to discuss the new report the night before when Umeko and Cora had returned with it, but then, Vice, Naminé and Roxas hadn't heard the second part of the story, or rather, the first part; they hadn't heard about their special visitor and why she was acting so _strange_.

"How did you find it?" Vice asked the two of them the dreaded question as they all sat at the circular table in the kitchen. Cora bit her lip and answered him.

"Sienna." Vice looked at her with an eyebrow raised for a moment. Cora glanced over at Roxas, who had the dumbest look on his face of all of them, which was expected; he and Sienna had been in love, after all. Learning that your late lover had come back to life was not something to be joked about. It was a good thing she wasn't joking.

"What do you mean?" Roxas was the one to ask, and his voice was uncharacteristically shaky and unstable.

"She was alive, and shes tated clearly that she was working for Kione. I'm willing to bet Hades brought her back, but the only people who Hades promised servitude from were Thomas... Vice, and myself." Vice nodded, agreeing with her; how could someone else tell Hades what to do? "I would have thought I was hallucinating, but Umeko was there and can vouch for me; she saw and heard the same exact thing."

Naminé, Roxas and Vice looked over at Umeko. "Was it really Sienna?" Roxas asked, his voice growing somewhat stronger now.

Umeko nodded, but then paused, and shook her head. "It was Sienna, but... she was different. She wasn't all happy, and she wasn't greeting us, and she wasn't talking about hair and nails and clothes..." Umeko was rambling now, but she could hardly believe it herself, "she was completely robotic."

"So Hades brought Sienna back from the darkness, and she's working for Kione," Vice reflected aloud; he didn't seem to be concerned about Sienna's change in personality. He hadn't, after all, ever been her friend. In fact, he had been the one to take her heart and flood it in darkness; what Heartless did best. "Kione is Cora's Nobody. Technically, she's part of you, so Hades would have to listen to her."

Cora nodded. "That makes sense, and that's one mystery solved, but _why does Sienna have to work for Kione?_" Cora asked in a stressful voice.

"It's not her choice," Roxas decided quickly, "she's under a spell or something. Naminé, Umeko and I all know Sienna and we all know that she wouldn't work for the wrong side. Sure, there was dark in her heart, but there is in everyone's. Except for Nobodies... and Princesses of Heart... agh, you get it."

"Riku worked for Thomas back when Vice was after darkness," Cora said, "because he promised that all he wanted was Sienna and that he would keep his friends safe. Maybe Kione or Apollyon offered her an ultimatum. Told her that nobody would be hurt if she did help, but if she didn't we all would be."

"That makes sense," Umeko said, "but Kione, because Sienna said that she hadn't met Apollyon yet. He's probably secretive. Sienna doesn't know Vice personally, only Thomas as an enemy, so it's possible that Kione or Apollyon's after Thomas, and Sienna's trying to keep us all safe from that." **Author's Note: I don't think I've ever purposely made the group veer off in the wrong direction to a conclusion and stick with it... I always make them so smart. Well, Cora's supposed to be smart, but... maybe I overestimate them? xD Never mind, I never make Sora smart. Just... blindly brave?**

"What do you mean," Vice started, after examining Umeko's possible explanation carefully, "that it's possible that Apollyon's after _Thomas_?"

This time, both Cora and Umeko bit their lips. They completely forgot another vital part of what had happened the night before. "Sienna gave us a message, that's what she was there for," Umeko said, especially careful not to look Roxas in the eyes, which is what Cora seemed to be doing as well, "she said, 'Thomas is returning'."

Vice was silent for a moment before he backed out of his chair and put his hand on his head, running it through his hair. Five red streaks, one of two physical signs of his heart being consumed by darkness. When he transferred to the light, it lightened his eyes and darkened his hair, altering the body that the darkness had given him when he was a Heartless. "You should have started with that," he murmured.

"This has got to be Apollyon and Kione's doing," Cora said, surprised that she used Kione and Apollyon together; they had seemed like separate entities to her for the past two days, "and it might have something to do with the worlds darkening. We should go out today and find out," she said, determined.

Vice, however, shook his head. "For not my own sake, but your guys', I'd better stay here today," he warned them, "maybe come up with a strategy when you're gone. The Heartless are in low number and I haven't seen any Nobodies. I'm sure you'll be alright," he guaranteed them.

Naminé was the first to nod, "Roxas, Umeko, Cora and I can manage on our own. If you need to stay out of the action for a little while, we understand, right?" Naminé looked towards the others, and did not look away until they were all nodding.

"I'll see you all later," Vice told them, before dipping down and kissing Cora on the lips. Cora barely had time to react, flustered as always. It wasn't often that he kissed her, and they were always brief and never gave her a chance to kiss him back. "Later," he repeated, and walked away.

"Where do we go?" Roxas asked, the most determined of the four of them.

"I'm thinking Song's Shimmer," Naminé suggested, "we can see if Kasa, Axel and Dolan have any more information about the darkening worlds, _and_ if Dolan's found any of the Apollyon reports yet."

Cora nodded. "Vice would like that, too."

Umeko, fast as always, pulled out a key and started spinning it around her right index finger. "The great key wielder is at your service," she joked, managing to get a smile out of everyone, "my gummi ship it is, then."

* * *

**Rural Woods**

In the end, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn had decided to go to the relatively newly discovered world, Rural Woods, where they had met Copper and Tod the year before, the hound dog puppy and the fox cub. The three of them didn't need their regulators anymore, because Raelyn could use magic to turn them into their other-worldly counterparts. **Author's Note: If you remember right, the regulators were the rings that Donald gave them to 'regulate' what they turned into in each world.** "Whoa," was all Sora had to say when he saw himself, a fully-grown fox brown fox by now.

He glanced at his friends. Riku was looking rather fearsome as a fully-grown silver wolf, almost twice the size as Sora. Kairi, the skunk, hadn't changed much in size, but the features were most definitely older. **Author's Note: I keep thinking of her like Flower from Bambi... xD** Raelyn, however, was a fully-grown Siberian Husky. She seemed to enjoy that form quite well, as the first thing she did was chase her tail.

"How did we grow so much in one year?" Kairi asked, confused.

Riku looked down at her, something she was used to even when they were both human. "Time passes differently in some worlds. Besides, animals age faster than humans, anyway." Riku couldn't figure out why, but he had a crazy urge to eat Kairi.

Suddenly, like a cloud passing over the sun, the world darkened a shade. "Looks like it's happening here, too," Sora mentioned, and his Ultima keyblade appeared in his mouth as about ten Neoshadows and twenty Shadows appeared around them.

Kairi called Destiny Blade, Riku called Way to Dawn and Raelyn her Staff of Snakes. It was more difficult to get used to fighting the monsters in that form, but they managed to get it done efficiently.

"If we want to find anybody about finding an Apollyon report, it's Copper," Kairi said, and Riku and Sora nodded at that. Raelyn listened intently. "He's good at tracking stuff, and I'm sure he'd be able to find it."

"Where do you think he is?" Riku asked, and then threw his head backwards as Sora twitched his towards Copper's house. They were only fifteen feet in front of it, they realized, so they ran towards where Chief and Copper always slept. The small doghouses were empty. Upon further inspection of the house from the outside, they could see that the house was empty, as well. None of that made sense.

"Maybe he's with Tod," Riku suggested, and they ran a little less than an acre to next door, where Widow Tweed and Tod the fox lived. Sora was the one to paw at the door, but nobody answered. Perhaps Widow Tweed was out? He pawed at the door again, and found the head of the fox, Tod, pushing the door open to let them in.

"Tod!" Sora shouted.

"Sora? Riku? Kairi?" Tod asked, grinning. He looked like he hadn't seen daylight in forever; did Widow Tweed banish him to the house after everything that they had done before? "I haven't seen you guys in a season!"

"You're all grown up now," Sora said.

"You three, also. And who's that?" Tod asked. Sora, Riku and Kairi noticed the change in his diction; he had definitely grown up.

"Raelyn," Riku said, motioning over to the Husky. "She's a friend of ours. We came to see if you've seen anything called an Apollyon report, and how you and Copper were doing." He backed up a pace when he saw Tod, crestfallen, look at the ground.

"I haven't seen Copper in a long time," Tod said, not mentioning anything about the reports, "he's been on a huntin' trip, and I've been grounded to this house." Suddenly, the five of them heard an odd honking sound that sounded like it had come from a broken-down car. Ignoring his grounding now, Tod ran outside. Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn quickly followed after him to see who it was.

Driving by with a pile of skins on the back of the car was Amos Slade who hadn't changed a bit, Copper, who was fully grown now, in the front seat, and Chief in the back, the white and brown dog looking slightly older. "Look, guys, Copper's back," he told them, "Huh, boy, has he grown big."

"Don't hunting dogs hunt foxes?" Sora asked so bluntly that Riku, Kairi and Raelyn all glared at him for being insensitive.

"That won't make any difference, Copper's gonna be glad to see me," the fox assured the other fox, the wolf, the skunk and the husky.

"Just try not to get your hopes too high... Okay, Copper?" Kairi asked in a much more sensitive way. Sora had a bad habit of being bluntly honest and not censoring himself, which was okay in most cases, but in some it was just inconsiderate. It wasn't that he did it to hurt people, he just didn't know any better.

"Look, don't worry. Chief's leaving," he motioned towards where Copper and Chief had both sat down outside of the house, but Chief had left behind the corner somewhere. It was good that he wasn't posessed by the Heartless anymore.

Tod ran outside, and Sora, Kairi, Riku and Raelyn all followed him out, but kept their distance just enough so that they could still hear their conversation. Tod whistled lowly, catching Copper's attention. "Hey, Copper; it's me, Tod."

* * *

**Song's Shimmer**

"It looks even darker than yesterday if you ask me," Roxas said.

"You're just upset that Sienna's alive and she's working for the enemy," Naminé said darkly, turning around, "now, I wonder where Kasa, Axel and Dolan are..." she muttered, but Roxas furrowed his eyebrows in a worried fashion.

"Naminé," he started, but Naminé simply kept walking forward through Crescendo Streets, passing up tens of suburban houses. There was not a Heartless or a Nobody in sight. Thankfully, there weren't any Rhapsodies, either; if there were Rhapsodies _anywhere_, then they would know that there was a problem.

"Nice," Umeko said to Roxas, shaking her head. Cora decided to keep her mouth shut, following the two girls now. Roxas looked towards Cora, of course, the one person who hadn't said anything.

"What did I say?" Roxas asked.

"Girls are... fragile," was all Cora could say, she had never really been a 'fragile, feminine girl' in her lifetime, but she had seen enough, and Naminé was one of them, "it would be better to just keep your mouth shut, because you can assume anything out of anything." She looked around to make sure that Naminé was so far ahead of them that she couldn't hear.

"That's ridiculous," Roxas muttered, walking with her, however.

"Like the back of your head? Or a boggart?" Cora asked, looking up at Roxas. **Author's Note: If you understand those references, I love you.**

"...What?" Roxas asked.

Cora sighed. "You're no Umeko," she decided, laughing. Suddenly, Naminé stopped in front of all of them. "Something wrong?" Cora called ahead of them, and ran up to Naminé, who was suddenly gasping for breath that she didn't need. They all looked down at her, where her hand seemed to be slowly disappearing.

"It's got to be the darkness that Apollyon's using on these worlds," she said, "when Nobodies aren't with their Somebodies, they belong in the realm of darkness. I'm going to fade back in there." Her voice was shaking.

Cora's eyes widened, "No!" she exclaimed at the same time as Umeko.

"Looks like so am I," Roxas muttered, looking at his own hands, which were also slowly fading.

"Cora, there's only one thing to do," Umeko told her, looking at her directly with forest green eyes. Cora furrowed her brow, not quite understanding, and Umeko said, "You've got to give them each a heart."

Cora suddenly faltered, "I've never done it on my own," she said, her voice shaking, "and Vice isn't here to tell me how he made me do it. I don't even know where to start." She paused, "Biologically, adrenaline from stress and other emotions can make the human body do remarkable things," she stated.

"Well, how's this for adrenaline?" Umeko asked, stepping in front of Cora. In one fluid motion, she began to shake her by the shoulders, harshly and violently. "_Your two friends are about to fade into the darkness because you don't know how to make a heart, woman, so it's time to learn!_"

Cora nodded, shrugging Umeko off of her nervously and sighed, clearing her throat. The two of them, she thought, had almost become see-through. Concentrating harshly until her hands began prickling from unmoving, she tried to focus all of the magic that came with being a keyblade wielder into her hands. She let her mind see the hearts taking shape, and her own emotions and vitality flow into them. When she opened her eyes, two pinkish-red hearts were floating just above her hands.

Cora didn't need to say a thing for the two hearts to float directly to Naminé and Roxas, the two closest heartless beings around. **Author's Note: Anyone else curious as to why Nobodies are called Nobodies when they have bodies but they don't have hearts, and Heartless are called Heartless when they have hearts, completely dark hearts but hearts nonetheless, but no bodies?**

Much to their relieved shock, Naminé and Roxas seemed to reappear before them, completely solid. Their eyes opened slowly, and Roxas was the first one to speak. "I feel..." he started, "nervous. And excited."

Naminé smiled. "I _feel_," was all she had to say to that statement, "up until now, every emotion I've ever felt has just been a memory of the emotions that Kairi and Sora have felt. But now..." Naminé reached out to touch Roxas's face, and heat rose to Roxas's cheeks as she did so. "I can feel physical things, too. You feel warm," she laughed.

This time, Umeko and cora both laughed along with her. Roxas, who was thoroughly embarrassed at this point, laughed along with them. Suddenly, a voice calling their names snapped them out of their gleeful trances.

"Guys, I'm glad you're here, you have to help us," Kasa practically cried, clinging onto Axel's harm, which had slipped every now and then. The cool and collected chakram wielder seemed to be worried, as well, as his body was fading into the darkness, too. Dolan hung by them, nervously clinging onto One Nightmare even when he didn't have any need to.

"I can do that," Cora said, quickly, trying to recreate what she had done for Roxas and Naminé. It took a little longer this time, because Cora was giddy with a feeling of accomplishment, but it had the same effect. Axel, rather than lashing out in emotion like Roxas and Naminé, had, however, just brought his hands up to his face and looked at his hands, inhaling air sharply.

"Well then," Axel smiled, "that's one way to do it, kid," he ruffled Cora's hair, and Cora gave a slightly annoyed smile; he was in no place to be calling her kid when he was _maybe_ five years older than she was.

"I've heard a lot of shit about you and creating hearts but I've never actually _seen_ it," Dolan said, surprised.

"_Stuff_, Kasa corrected, and then looked at Cora, Umeko, Naminé and Roxas, ignoring Dolan's annoyed look on his face, "I've been trying to get him to swear a little less lately. When he gets all annoyed he starts to smash One Nightmare against a lot of things and people start to wonder," Kasa explained.

Cora laughed, but then her eyes widened in rememberance, "Kasa, I know that you and Dolan never met her, but you've heard stories about her, and she was a friend of Axel's. Someone's back, someone important. We think you should know about it."

* * *

**Rural Woods**

"I thought that was you, Tod," Copper said, "I heard ya comin'. Boy, you've really grown." He looked at Tod with an almost childlike curiosity, which was comical especially looking at how mature he looked.

"You have too, Copper. I saw you comin' back with Chief and the hunter," Tod said excitedly, but looked slightly crestfallen when he saw Copper's face. Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn all took that as their cue to go up and show themselves again.

"Copper, it's been a while!" Sora exclaimed, "Remember us? Except Raelyn, of course, she's the Husky," Sora finished, motioning with his muzzle over at Raelyn, who seemed particularly occupied with a butterfly. It seemed this group wasn't too good yet at not letting their animal instincts take over.

"Yeah," Copper responded, "and it's great to see you, Tod, Sora, Riku, and Kairi. But ya know, you shouldn't be over here. Y'all are going to get all of us in a lot of trouble.

"But... Copper," Sora started, but found himself unable to finish his sentence.

"Copper, we just wanted to see ya. We're still friends, aren't we?" Tod asked now, his ears slightly down in confusion and possible disappointment.

Copper backed up a step or two. "Tod, those days are over. I-I'm a huntin' dog now." Copper obviously tried not to look at Tod's eyes as he spoke those words, or Sora, Riku and Kairi's for that matter. "Uh, you'd better get out of here before the master sees you."

"We're not afraid of him," Tod said boldly.

"Dang varmins!" came the old voice of Amos Slade, which made Sora slightly nostalgic. "Copper, what are ya doin' just sittin' there like a sittin' duck? Get 'em, boy!" the hunter called out to his hound.

Tod began to run out into the forest, and Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn all followed him, though Copper was chasing after them. He seemed slightly worried. "Copper!" Amos Slade continuously cried out to him.

"Tod! Sora! Riku! Kairi! Raelyn!" Copper shouted out all of their names when they were out of sight of the hunter and in the forest. "Track 'em down, boy!" they could hear Amos Slade's voice from outside of their vacinity.

Copper looked troubled. "I don't want to see y'all get killed," he admitted, "I'll let you go this one time."

Chief, however, was rushing towards them. He was stronger than Copper, and he wasn't about to let Sora, Riku, Kairi, Raelyn or Tod go without a fight. The five of them backed up a pace, but called upon their weapons as soon as they got the chance. All except for Tod, of course, who would use his teeth and nails.

"If ya thought all that darkness was gone," Chief spoke to them, his voice low and his eyes flashing something horrible, "you were wrong." He pounced in the direction of the five of them, and Sora, being large and agile, jumped out of the way and pushed them to the side. They neared the edge of a bridge as they fought with the dog.

"Chief, don't do this!" Riku shouted out to the dog, rushing at him. He was a wolf; he was bigger, stronger and a bit more primal in his instincts. When Chief refused to yield, he threw himself at the dog, pushing him over the edge. They heard a yelp from the dog; he did not die, but he broke his leg.

"Chief? Chief?" came Copper's worried voice from far away, and he jumped down to look at his old friend. Chief seemed to be whimpering in pain. He looked up at Tod, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn, who were all looking off of the edge. "Tod, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Raelyn... if it's the last thing I do, I'll get you for this!"

**Author's Note: I've still got a lot of The Fox and the Hound to cover, so it looks like this'll extend into the next chapter. I'm closely following the storyline of this Disney movie because it was one of my favorites and I really don't want to ruin a great storyline. In the meantime, I have a slightly scary surprise in store in the next chapter for Cora, Umeko, Naminé** **and Roxas, so be ready! Please review!**


	5. The Mirror Room

**Author's Note: I was so excited to write this chapter that I got started on it right when I finished the second one. This chapter is going to be mainly following Sora and his group, and Apollyon, Kione, Sienna and Blaise. I'll, of course, add some scenes with Roxas and his group, especially because there's a shocking surprise at the end of this chapter, which strongly relates to the lyrics of this chapter. Please read and review!**

**Oh, and to answer catharsis's question, he kind of did love, but it was more of him remembering how Sora felt for Kairi, which is the same as how he felt for Naminé when they were Nobodies. I don't think I did explain that yet, but thanks for pointing it out!**

* * *

_**Chapter VI:**_

_**The Mirror Room**_

"_I can't see the future, but I have this feeling:_

_Yesterday's goodbye was different._

_One of these days, gonna say good-bye._

_One of these days, gonna say good-bye._"

'Kizuna Iro' by Chieko Kawabe (Translated)

* * *

**Rural Woods**

"We gotta stay out here and live in the woods," Tod said, worrying very much, "if Copper and Chief find us over there, they'd hunt us down for sure," he looked around the trees they weaved around every now and then. **Author's Note: In the movie, Widow Tweed left him there, but for the sake of time, he's just going there on his own.**

"Has he gone nuts?" Raelyn whispered to Riku, the only one that met her height in an animal form.

"He's just looking out for himself," Riku whispered back.

"We can't live out here," Raelyn reminded him, "for one thing, we're human, and for another, we need Copper to find the Apollyon report," Riku sighed at Raelyn, shaking his head. He was more used to keeping up illusions to fit in in the other worlds than Raelyn was.

"Don't worry, things'll work out," he assured her, and they continued on.

"Hello," came a female voice, and everyone's attention snapped back forward. Yet another fox, this one female, was standing in front of them. Tod seemed immediately baffled; obviously he had never seen a female member of the Fox species.

"Wow," Tod said, "You are, and uh, I am-"

The female fox only laughed back at them, and they smiled stupidly at each other for a moment.

"Aww, fox love..." Kairi sighed, admiring the scene. Sora, Riku and Raelyn, however, seemed quite bored by it. After all, they were supposed to be searching for the Apollyon report, not playing around.

"May I call you by your first name?" Tod asked the girl.

"Oh, oh, sure, why not?" the girl fox responded, obviously equally as nervous.

"Thanks... but, what is your first name?" Tod asked.

"Vixey."

"Vixey?"

"Uh-huh."

"My name is... is... uh..."

"It's _Tod_," Sora whispered to him, and then Riku and Raelyn fixed him with a dirty look that said something like 'you're encouraging it'.

"Tod!" Tod exclaimed to Vixey.

"That's a nice name, Tod," she responded, smiling a little bit because, for some reason, all Disney characters, even those of the Canines, can smile.

In moments, the two of them were over in the stream trying to catch fish. Sora, on the other hand, slumped where he stood to the ground. "Now what?" he asked the others, "Still no sign of the report and Tod's off with his new girlfriend."

"You're supposed to be the leader!" Kairi fumed, which wouldn't have been so funny if she wasn't a skunk. "Think of something else we can do, or where we can find it. Just don't sit there like a duck."

"Duck?!" Riku, Sora and Raelyn all exclaimed at once. Kairi, the only herbavoric animal of the four of them, shook her small, skunk head.

"You're a silly, empty-headed female!" they heard Tod shouting at Vixey. Confused, the group turned towards them. Tod, for some reason, was in the water, failing at catching a fish. Vixey fixed him with a look that could kill.

"Now just a _minute_," she began, "you've got nerve. Why don't you grow up?"

"That does it!" another voice called out, but this one didn't belong to either of the two 'lovesick' foxes. Rushing up to them was both Amos Slade accompanied by Copper.

"Vixey, you have to go," Sora called to the she-fox, "unless you can fight Copper or Amos Slade, you've got to go find cover, or they'll hunt you, too." _Sure_, Kairi thought, _**now**__ you're using your leader's instincts_.

Amos Slade soon had them boxed in. They were around a waterfall and a river; it was either cross the river and fight Copper, or stay and fight Amos Slade. "We don't have a choice," Sora said, especially when they looked over at Slade and found Darkness practically pooling out of his mouth.

"I shoulda known those Heartless had him," Tod said, shaking his head, "he's been even more rotten than usual."

"We don't have a choice, guys!" Riku shouted to them, which of course, only sounded like a bark to Slade. Copper, on the other side of the river, seemed relatively confused, as if he had gone through some realization.

"Copper," Slade called to his dog, "we've trapped 'em now!" Soon after he spoke this, a shadow seemed to rise behind the man. At first, the group thought it was a Heartless, but it proved to be a simple grizzly bear. Slade did not seem to see it there at all. Tod, perhaps relying on instincts shouted to them, "Get the grizzly!"

This time, Tod was leading them. They barely saw Slade there as they rushed at the giant bear, knocking him over. By the time the bear was an inch from losing his consciousness, he got smart and ran away. Tod, however, had gotten hurt somehow. He was limping.

"Tod, are you a'right?" Raelyn asked, worried and the closest to him at the time.

"I-I'll be okay," he assured them.

"Tod?" Copper called, worried as he rushed over to them.

Amos Slade, however, raised his rifle.

* * *

**Song's Shimmer**

"I remember you guys telling me about Sienna," Kasa said softly as the rest of the group was silent, "she was the Realm of Nothingness wielder out of the trio, Cora, Umeko and Sienna. But I thought she was good; why would she be working with... what's his name? Apollyon?" Kasa asked them.

"We don't know," Naminé admitted, "we think she might be trying to protect us by sacrificing Vice... or in this case... Thomas."

Dolan shifted, "Not too bright, is she?"

Though Roxas opened his mouth to retort at the wielder of One Nightmare, he stopped for a moment to think, and then asked, "What do you mean by that?" he asked, genuinely curious as he stuffed his hands inside his pockets.

Dolan shrugged. "If Apollyon's anything like the other evil dudes you guys- and we've- faced, then he's not going to hold up to that end of the bargain. Kind of like he didn't with Riku," he noted, "and I've heard that Sienna's smart. Something tells me she wouldn't fall for something like that, even if she _was_ born yesterday."

"So you think she's being held against her-" Cora stopped, her eyes widening. She then grabbed Roxas's shoulder and began to shake it violently in realization, "_That's it_! If it was Hades who brought her back, then he must have given Kione and Apollyon her free will, too!"

"Bra-vo," came another familiar voice. Curious, Cora, Umeko, Naminé, Roxas, Kasa, Dolan and Axel, all still standing in the middle of Crescendo Street, looked to their left. Kasa had to rub her eyes a couple of times before she could believe who was in front of her. "What's up?" he asked, "You didn't miss me?"

"Not again," Umeko groaned, "I mean, of course we did, but..."

"I'll save you the trouble. Yes, I'm working for Kione." Kasa and Dolan seemed immediately crestfallen.

"But you came from the _dead_, not the darkness," Dolan complained.

"Which made it all the easier for Hades to revive me, I suppose." One Dream was in his left hand, though he didn't seem ready to use it.

"Before you disappear in one of those annoying dark portal things," Cora bursted, hopeful, "Why are you working for Kione? You can't be doing it on your own, we know that you wouldn't on your own." She was twisting her fingers around her left wrist nervously.

For a moment, Blaise just looked at them. "I don't know."

"You don't have to, Blaise," Kasa said softly, "you're alive again. That's what's important," she walked up to him and put her dark hands on his pale face, forcing him to look at her straight in the eyes, "You're _alive_. Don't waste it on Apollyon and Kione's orders."

"I..." Blaise's arm with One Dream lifted, but he seemed to be struggling, "can't... help... it..." Before he could hit Kasa away with One Dream, he backed up shortly. "I came here to tell you who I am. That's all," was all he said as he backed up into a portal, leaving all the keyblade wielders and Axel confused and deeply saddened. Just like Sienna, however, he left behind a note that looked like another Apollyon's Report.

Roxas was the first to snatch it up and read it, looking for answers.

* * *

**Rural Woods**

"Come on, Copper, get out of the way," the hunter commanded his hunting dog, but Copper, for once disobeying his master, did not budge from where he was standing, protecting Copper from Amos Slade.

With that, a small puff of darkness that was taking over the Hunter seemed to fly away and disappear into the air. With a new realization and a stupid look on his face, Amos Slade simply paused for a moment and said, "Well... come on, boy. Let's go home."

Copper, as they walked away, looked back and smiled at Tod, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn, and even Vixey as she came out of hiding, realizing the commotion had ended. Tod smiled back at Copper.

"Thanks, guys," Tod said, "I guess it's safe to go back to Widow Tweed's now."

"I guess so," Sora said, "but now it's time that we said good-bye."

"Huh?" Tod asked, "Whaddya mean? You're not leaving for a long time again, are ya?" he asked the four of them, hopeful and against it.

"We'll be back whenever we can," Kairi covered up for Sora, who didn't seem to know how to respond. "We'll come and visit you, Copper and Vixey as much as possible, but for now, we have to get going."

"I'll walk you there," Vixey offered to Tod, who smiled stupidly in response.

Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn all made their way back to the Gummi Ship, safely hidden in the forest. "And in the end, we never did end up finding a report," Raelyn sighed, looking at her paws. The moment they walked into the Gummi Ship, they seemed to shift back into their human forms. "At least it wasn't a total lost cause."

"Yeah, we got to help Copper and Tod become friends again, and we stopped that bear from killing Amos Slade," Kairi mentioned brightly.

"It's late," Riku said, "let's get home."

"I second that," Sora said, and started up the Gummi Ship. It was only moments before the spaceship was just a glint in the sky, another star looking down at Rural Woods, which was finally at peace.

* * *

**Apollyon's Tower**

"They have all seen Sienna and Blaise?" Apollyon asked, looking at his reflections again in the mirror room, a satisfied look on his face. Kione did not verbally answer him, but she nodded. "I take it they are in the extra rooms?" He looked straight at his reflection to the front, the one that represented himself in the Realm of Nothingness.

"Yes," Kione nodded.

"Go get them?" he asked her, and she nodded and walked away. In moments, she was back with the two blondes following her. As Sienna stepped into the room, she seemed particularly interested in her own reflections. To the left was herself as she used to see herself in the mirror every day, in the light realm. The middle, the Realm of Nothingness, she saw her Nobody, Anixens. That surely confused her. To her right, a form she had gotten used to, was herself as a Heartless.

Blaise, on the other hand, had a reason to be confused, as he never had a Nobody or a Heartless. To the left of him was himself, to the front mirror was a boy with medium-brown hair, styled a little more controlled, and his skin lighter. To the right, was a whimpy Shadow; that boy had barely any darkness in his heart, after all.

"I figured it was about time you learned who I am, or who I was," Apollyon stated, looking at Sienna and Blaise, though he said, "all three of you."

"Boss?" Kione asked worriedly and slightly confused, but Apollyon silenced her with a hand in the air.

"An easier way to describe my past would be my reflections in the mirror," he stated, pointing at the three reflections, "which explain why I was born out of a locket, a locket that swallowed up the darkness of these three boys. To the left, in the light realm is the keyblade wielder, Vaughn. He was the wielder of the light realm of the three doomed wielders." It was obvious where Apollyon had gotten the red bit of his hair, which was the long part that covered his right eye, and his slender stomach and face shape also seemed to mirror him.

Then he pointed to the mirror to his front, "In the Realm of Nothingness is the keyblade wielder Dallas from Pearl Falls. He and Vaughn are still alive, residing in a world called Pearl Heights, free of most of their darkness, which I am created from." This boy was tall, taller than the other two, with dark blue, light blue and green hair, which made up the roots of Apollyon's hair and his height and eye shape.

"To the right, in the Realm of Darkness," he paused for a moment, taking in that reflection as the boy with blond hair moved his lips to Apollyon's speaking. He was shorter than Dallas, but still tall and with much muscle that Apollyon, too, had, and his blond hair reflected the shaggy part of Apollyon's hair, his left side. "That is the keyblade wielder, Keir. Though I am created from all three of these keyblade wielders' darkness, I am mostly of him, for he was completely darkness, except for one spark of light. The one that, in my dreams, is watching over the locket through the heavens."

Kione hung her head low, thinking and nodding. Apollyon had often times told her about his dreams, the ones that woke him up screaming most of the time. A locket in the middle of a deserted world, the one he woke up on. A star looking down at it. A girl named Umeko who had trapped him in there. A girl, Kione's Somebody, whose heart he had stolen. Kione looked at his reflection in the dark realm, to the reflection of Keir. If he was completely darkness, that would have made him a Heartless, and the spark of light would be his heart that floated up to Kingdom Hearts. That would mean...

"Yes," Apollyon began, as if reading Kione's thoughts, "it was Keir who had stolen your Somebody's heart."

"You've told me a lot now," Kione said, ignoring Sienna and Blaise, who were completely silent still, "what about my Somebody's name. Are you sure of it yet?"

"Her name," he began, "is Cora."

Kione took a moment, trying to find something about the name Cora that was significant. "Cora," she repeated back to him, tasting the new word on her tongue. It was foreign, that was for sure, but she didn't remember anything of it. At that thought, she hung her head low and looked at her feet; so much for that.

"Kione, you are part of the Realm of Nothingness now."

"Destined to fade into darkness," Kione finished, "I know." At this, Sienna backed up a pace. She remembered something like this from somewhere, but couldn't remember what. Did it have something to do with her keyblade, Origins of Nothing? **Author's Note: If you remember, in the first story, the wielder of Origins of Nothing was destined to fall into the Realm of Nothingness.**

"You needn't worry about your Somebody," he finished. "The reason I'm telling you three this is because it's directly related to Thomas, the one we are after. Thomas was given a strong heart from Cora, one that could withstand darkness. The only thing that I am missing to become completely human," he put his hand to his chest, where nothing beat inside, "is a heart. Thomas's is the strongest we have got."

"You want us to take his heart? How can we do that?" Blaise asked, completely still. He didn't know why he was even listening to these people in the first place, and barely knew where he came from, but he knew he was listening.

Apollyon shook his head. "You and Sienna are just to distract Cora and the others. I will continue to spread darkness to the others worlds, and when enough darkness has eclipsed them, his slowly tainting heart will be stolen from one of my Heartless. Only, I will not have the Heartless completely consume it in darkness, for that would create only another Heartless... I will take the heart for myself."

Kione, her usual smartass self, raised an eyebrow, "From what I've heard, Thomas is strong. Something tells me a puny Heartless won't be able to get the job done." At that, Apollyon smirked a very wry smile as he looked at Kione, one that most resembled his reflection in the mirror that held Keir.

He spun to look at her, not taking his indigo and gray eyes off of her own golden ones, "That's why I won't be using a _puny_ Heartless."

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

_Apollyon's Sixth Report of Eight_

_Kione has adapted very well to the tower, and I have become used to her being there. For a long time now, we have been careful about not coming out of hiding and planning out how we were going to make myself- and Kione- completely human, and I believe we've finally decided how._

_If I am to bring back Thomas with the darkness I can control and steal his heart away, I will need to distract the group that he often times works with. With much questioning and research, I have found that two keyblade wielders, one lost to the darkness and the other at a loss of life, Sienna and Blaise, would be the perfect distractions._

_In a few weeks, I plan to send Kione forth to Hades, who still owes her Somebody six years of service. Not only will she make them revive these two wielders, but she will also hold their free will captive so there will be no questioning loyalty._

_It's both a frightening and exciting thought; this time next month, we will be human._

Roxas, Naminé, Cora and Umeko rushed back to the Radiant Garden and into the castle to find Vice and show him this report. They didn't know yet if Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn had returned yet, but they rushed in to find him, anyway; maybe there would be two reports for him to read.

However, instead of finding Vice anywhere in the castle, on his bed in his room was a brief note that seemed to be written in a hurry:

_Cora and company,_

_I've left you four in charge of the castle until this is all over. I can't stay here, not if I'm Apollyon's target. The last thing I want to do is put you all in danger. This is my problem, not yours. Wish me luck,_

_Prince Vice of Radiant Garden_

"I can't believe it," Cora was the first to speak, her fist to her mouth. "He left. And after so much that happened... and all that happened this year... How can he think that this is _his_ problem! It's my Nobody! Sure, they're after him, but all of us want answers."

"This can't be happening," was all Roxas stated. Naminé looked at her feet; she couldn't believe it, either.

Umeko, on the other hand, was playing with something on one of her fingers, a nervous habit that Naminé, Roxas and Cora had all seen her perform in the past day. Curious, although a little distracted, Cora looked at Umeko's hand, where a small golden ring with a sapphire for a jewel was wrapped around the ring finger.

"Umeko," Naminé was the first to say in awe. Umeko, realizing that they were looking at her ring, looked down at it as well and back up at the other three. "What's this about?" she asked, not exactly sure of how else to put it.

Umeko smiled apologetically for letting it slip her mind, "It's like you said, Cora... a lot happened this year."

**Author's Note: Three guesses as to what Umeko's ring means? xD If you **_**really**_** don't know, which you should, go back and read the epilogue of Dark Dreams, about when Umeko and Coy returned to Eventide Mountains. Speaking of Coy, I'm going to thrust him in the story sometime half way through, along with some other characters from the prequels you might have missed. Please review!**


	6. The Crash

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long to get up! I've been a bit busy for the last couple of days, especially preparing for Exhibition Night for Marching Band tomorrow. We're not nearly ready... xD Anyway, I hope this chapter is pretty good. I've decided that after this fanfiction is over, I'm going to make a new Kingdom Hearts one, similar to this but with different characters, plotlines and such, just for a new, fun start. More than likely, however, I will create a new fanfiction account for this, because I've loaded this one up with enough Kingdom Hearts fanfictions. I'll post my penname once I make it. Please read and review! Seriously.**

* * *

_**Chapter VI:**_

_**The Crash**_

"_Dime, tell me that you need me._

_Antes de que muera este amor_

_Lagrimas de amor._

_Viven los besos que me diste_

_Ya no creo en nada mas._

_Lagrimas de amor._

'Lagrimas' by JD Natasha

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"This is just..." Cora murmured, but not before falling down backwards from her chair and struggling to stand up, "too much information for one day. Umeko's engaged and didn't tell me, and Vice left, but he told us _afterward_."

Umeko frowned. "I just _forgot_," she mumbled.

"I know, I'm sorry," Cora said, sighing and rubbing her temples. "I just... don't know what to think. I'm happy for you and Coy. I really am, but I want to know what we do now, without Vice. Even if we're not targets for Apollyon and Kione anymore, I can't let Vice do this on his own." She sighed and looked the other way.

"You really care about him, don't you, Cora?" Naminé asked quietly, putting one, oddly warm, hand on Cora's bare arm.

"No," Cora said stubbornly, "I could never care about that no-good, leaving-without-saying-a-word, stubborn, sociophobic, identity-crisis _asshole_," she stated, putting as much feeling as she could into it, although it was obvious by the expression on Umeko, Naminé and Roxas's faces that they knew she was lying, "it's just... we still have to stick together."

"Whaddya mean?" Roxas asked, who was still tense about Sienna and Naminé.

Cora's eyes unconsciously drifted to her pinky finger on her left hand, but then back to Roxas. She forced a smile and shook her head, "Never mind. But... what do we do now?" she asked them, for once, at a loss for answers.

"First, we should call Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn. They might want to know that Vice is gone," Umeko suggested.

"And then, first thing tomorrow morning," Naminé cut in, "we're going to go find him. I think the darkness is clouding his brain; isolating himself from us isn't going to make the fight against Apollyon and Kione any easier."

"_Or_ with Sienna and Blaise," Roxas added.

"I agree," Cora finally said softly, "better to lose the anchor than the whole ship."

"I'm dialing right now," Naminé called.

* * *

**Destiny Islands**

Sora's ringtone, Bustin' Up on the Beach, was loud enough to wake him out of a dead sleep. **Author's Note: That's the battle music for Destiny Islands. xD **Blindly, literally as his room was eclipsed in total darkness, the eighteen year-old keyblade wielder groped for his cell phone, finding it under a bunch of clothes on the floor at the foot of his bed. "Hullo?" he asked, picking it up immediately, without looking at the caller ID.

"Sora," came a voice, "it's me, Naminé. We have news."

"Nalani?" Sora asked, his words slurring, "But I thought that you were at the beach with Stefaaa." His voice sounded like that of a drunken hobo.

"Nalani? Stefa, what?" Naminé asked, then sighed into the phone, "Never mind, look, Vice just left the Radiant Garden because he thought that he was the problem and what Apollyon was after, which I guess is true... but he's just going to be an easier target, being out there on his own, and we're going to need your help finding him."

"Vice-versa, vicegrip, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City," Sora began listing off these things, his words still slurring. "Who's Apollypocket?"

"_What_?" came the impatient voice on the other line.

"Nalani, you need to learn how to hang loose a little. You've been hangin' around Arach for too long. I see the things that you two do when you think nobody's looking. _I watch you, fast asleeep. All our feear, means nothinggg._" Sora sang.

Naminé said something to the others in the room, "I think he's half asleep."

"SORAxRIKU is a LIE," Sora shouted in the phone to Naminé, causing the girl to recoil, "Every day I go on fanfiction and look up fanfictions about myself, and every day it's a complete story, one chapter, the characters are Sora and Riku and I see Yaoi and Lemon warnings everywhere. I'm not gay! And I don't even like citrus!"

"Sora, maybe you should go back to sleep," Naminé suggested softly to the boy.

"Oh, and Kristi and Kari aren't any better. Kristi even writes about Roxas and Axel. They're straight, too!" Sora complained, his diction a little clearer now, but only a little. "They giggle about stuff like Riku and I! They _giggle_!"

"...Good-bye, Sora," Naminé sighed, and moved her finger to the talk button.

"_I will reclaim my pride-_" Sora's sentence was cut short as Naminé finally hung up. **Author's Note: Comic relief, I thought we were in dire need of it. xD In case you didn't know, Kristi's my name, and Kari's Igor Lollipop's; Stefa, Nalani and Arach also came from her story, from The Two-Sided Heart series.**

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"What did he say?" Cora asked, hugging the edge of her chair for balance as she started to suffer from vertigo from everything that had happened that day.

Naminé sighed, "Some stuff about Nalani, Stefa, Grand Theft Auto, Polly Pocket, some Utada Hikaru song, yaoi slash fanfictions and some girls named Kristi and Kari that giggle about him and Riku. Like I said, I think he was half-asleep."

"Kristi," Cora said, frowning, "what a weird name."

"And Kari? Carry what?" Umeko asked. Still, she shook it off. "We really should be getting some sleep then, even if we don't have all of our stuff over here... I'll go take a guest room." Umeko began to walk away and then waved back to everybody. "Night," she called.

Naminé and Roxas, however, walked towards the wing of the castle that Vice had given them. "Later," Roxas called, and Naminé waved. Cora sighed, left alone in the kitchen. It would be a long day tomorrow, and a longer night that night. Finally leaving the empty kitchen, she walked to the old-fashioned foyer and up the left set of stairs. **Author's Note: In case you couldn't tell in the last story, I had Vice make some renovations to the castle, but not all; the foyer, library, chapel and a couple of other things are still there.**

Cora walked towards her guest room, but instead, stopped again at Vice's room, where the door was left wide open and the note still left on his bed. The window was open and cold air was chilling the room. She walked in and sat down at the edge of his bed, picking up the piece of paper, willing herself not to read it again. "Idiot," she mumbled softly, forcing her eyes to the ground.

"_Promise or not, I want to spend the future with you_." That sentence, the one that Vice had said to her when they were both in the courtyard in Radiant Garden, rang through her head. "Idiot, idiot, idiot," she repeated a few times, and managed to push herself off of his bed. She walked over to his shirts drawer and rummaged through them before she found one and put it on for pajamas, and fell asleep in his bed that night.

It was okay, because it was a dream, and she would wake up. Where was it she last left off? Fighting with the Imperial Army? Helping Alice find her lost kitten? Wherever she was sleeping, she would wake up, and she would hopefully find her Nobody somewhere. None of this had ever happened.

* * *

**The Next Morning...**

"Cora, get up, it's late," Umeko said softly, shaking her shoulder. Cora groaned; so obviously, everything that she hoped hadn't happened did. She shrugged Umeko's hands off of her, desperate for a few more minutes of sleep. Umeko sighed, dropping a bag of some sort on the ground, and took her by the ankles, pulling her off of the bed.

"Ow..." Cora mumbled, shaking her head like a dog and standing up, wobbly. She was never a morning person. "What was that for?" she asked as if she were just shot in the head. She glanced at the bag that Umeko had dropped; her bag of clothes that she had left in the foyer for the longest time.

"Not getting up," Umeko said simply, "come on, get dressed. The Heartless are everywhere," Umeko urged her.

Cora, annoyed, looked at the window. "It's still dark out. What time is it?"

Umeko bit her lip and played with her engagement ring, "Almost noon."

Cora gave her a confused look for a moment before her eyes opened widely and she fumbled in her bag for clothes. Stripping out of Vice's t-shirt, she quickly pulled on a green striped t-shirt with some care bear on it and green and pink Bermuda shorts. "It's gotta be the darkness," Cora started, her words slurred as she got changed, "that's making the Heartless appear. How many are there?"

"Not as many as when you were having those nightmares last year," Umeko admitted, "but enough. The defensive system can take care of them; what we have to do is find Vice. Naminé called Sora and the others again to re-tell them the information; I think Sora got it all this time."

"Why didn't you guys wake me up earlier?" Cora snapped.

Umeko looked like she had just been slapped as she raised her hands in mock-surrender, "Down, girl," she urged, "we just thought you might need your sleep."

The former Princess of Heart frowned, "Sorry," she mumbled. It was odd of her to be saying that; she didn't often admit defeat. "I shouldn't have been a bitch like that. It's just that yesterday was a long day."

Umeko nodded, "Don't worry, and I know, but we should get going now," she motioned outside of the room and Cora followed her. So far ,the new day hadn't gotten off to an amazing start, either, even though Cora was notoriously cranky in the morning.

As they both ran downstairs, Naminé and Roxas were already conversing nervously, Oathbreaker, Oathkeeper and Oblivion tight in hand. "You're awake," Roxas was the first to point out, snapping his head towards the two.

Cora nodded. "Where to first?"

"I was thinking," Naminé started, "that if Vice went anywhere, it would be to go find Apollyon and Kione and put an end to this... this... darkness engulfing all the worlds thing. We haven't found a report yet that's told us where Apollyon lives-"

"We just know it's a tower," Roxas cut in.

"So we should look around in the Gummi Ship?" Umeko asked, twirling her keys around her fingers.

"Guys, I was thinking of something when Umeko and I were on our way down here," Cora started, walking with Roxas, Naminé and Umeko out of the castle, "about whether or not my Nobody's faded yet."

Naminé stopped in her tracks, "I almost forgot about her. The darkness was so strong yesterday that we almost faded into it without hearts... now look at it," she motioned towards the sky, which hung in a seven o'clock darkness. "If she hasn't faded yet... then she must be on her way."

"Unless," Umeko began, "there's one world that's still equally light and dark out there."

"That's possible," Naminé admitted, nodding, "and in that one Apollyon report, he said that Kione was they literal key to helping him. He'd probably want to protect her, so he didn't tamper with the world that they're living in."

"So it should be like a lighthouse," Roxas laughed, "against everything dark, I mean."

"That's possible," Naminé repeated, laughing now despite everything. "Let's get going," she said to Umeko, "if we ever want to think about seeing that _lighthouse_ by today." With that, the four of them found their way into Umeko's Gummi Ship.

* * *

**Deep Jungle**

Not only did Deep Jungle smell funny, but Sora, Riku, Kairi and Raelyn had an especially difficult time shaking off some immediate Powerwilds and Bouncywilds upon their arrival, and they had yet to find Jane or Tarzan. Though they could have used Tarzan for help against all of the Heartless, Jane was the most civil of all of them and they would have liked to approach her for their questions; did she know why Apollyon was darkening the worlds to steal Thomas's heart away? Had she seen an Apollyon report anywhere in her world, dropped by him as he went around darkening them? Had she seen a tall man with dark hair, a little bit of red in it, and green eyes somewhere in the jungle?

"This is getting... frustrating..." Riku mumbled, hacking at a Powerwild that didn't seem to want to let go of his arm.

"I'm just happy I'm not a skunk anymore," admitted Kairi. She jumped out of the way of three Bouncywilds that seemed to have an obsession with her new, purple dress, pulling at it and rubbing questionable substances on it. "But the Heartless are getting annoying."

"I dunno," Raelyn began, "I'm starting to grow attached to these guys," the girl laughed, and Sora, Riku and Kairi all looked over at her. By their tails, three Powerwilds were hanging on her arms, one Bouncywild was sleeping on her head, and two more Bouncywilds were jumping around her in a terrifyingly cute way. Even a couple of Sniperwilds, which they had never seen in Deep Jungle before, were hanging around her. **Author's Note: Sniperwilds were only in Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix in Traverse Town; they look a lot like the Bouncywilds except with purple fur.**

"I guess it makes sense," Riku admitted, "Raelyn's got half the attitude of a monkey."

Raelyn put her hands on her hips, "And the other half would be...?"

"Hey, look at that, monkey tracks," Riku said, half trying to avoid answering Raelyn, however, there weren't monkey tracks by them, rather gorilla tracks. They looked rather small, and were leading to deep within the jungle, outside of the clearing.

"Alright!" Sora shouted, looking at the tracks, "If we follow these, maybe we'll find a gorilla that can help us find Tarzan."

"Or Jane," Kairi added. At that, Sora nodded, and rushed to follow the tracks. As Riku, Kairi and Raelyn followed him, they didn't even bother to destroy the Powerwilds, Bouncywilds and Sniperwilds that were following them, especially Raelyn.

Eventually, they came across Tarzan and Jane, looking up at someone who was hiding in a tree. A baby gorilla was hiding behind a bunch of branches, her eyes squeezed shut, and Tarzan and Jane seemed to be trying to coo her down.

"Sora!" Jane exclaimed as she caught sight of the Keyblade Master, "We're so glad to see you; the Heartless are everywhere, and the dark is scaring Mella," she motioned upwards to the baby gorilla, which only scuttled backwards on the branch a little further. **Author's Note: Mella is officially my first gorilla OC. I'm so proud of myself. xD**

"I'll get her," Raelyn said, nodding. Before Jane could stop her, she rushed over to the tree and climbed up it as if it was nothing, retrieving the baby gorilla. "There's nothing to be afraid of as long as you stick with the bigger gorillas," she explained to the ape, who nodded.

"I must have said that seven times already, and she didn't listen to me," Jane sighed.

A gorilla voice came from farther down, and yet another gorilla rushed towards them, one that Tarzan and Jane were a bit more familiar with. Terk looked at the small gorilla, complaining, or so it seemed, and then tookher by the hand and bounded away, still complaining in whatever language it is that gorillas speak in.

"Terk babysits Mella," Tarzan said, "Terk no very good at it."

"Terk no very- I mean, Terk isn't very good at a lot of things," Jane sighed, "thankfully for you four, we won't ahve to ask you to help us with much; there were three others in trees, but we managed to get the other three down. Terk was supposed to be babysitting all four of them... Supposed to be..." Jane seemed relatively annoyed.

Sora, however, beamed, "Seems like you've been adjusting to the jungle life pretty well," he noted, looking around.

Jane sighed, "Oh, I wish."

"Excuse me," Riku said, trying to be as polite as possible; he didn't know Tarzan or Jane that well. "We were wondering if you've seen a really tall guy around here with dark, red streaked hair and green eyes?"

"Or anything unusual at all?" Kairi added when they said nothing.

"I'm sorry," Jane said softly, "but we did find something unusual. It was something that Terk dug up earlier today." She handed them over a piece of paper that looked promising; most definitely an Apollyon report.

"Dude, thanks!" Raelyn beamed, looking over Sora's shoulder at the paper.

"...Dude?" Jane asked, frowning.

Riku sighed, smiling, and put a hand on her shoulder as the four of them began to read the Apollyon report.

_Apollyon's First Report of Eight_

_I remember nothing before waking up in a world called Nothing's Daybreak, next to a locket which I have kept with me ever since. I do not know why I know the things I do; the names of worlds, odd faces and names in my thoughts and so much more._

_I believe it has something to do with who I am made up of. I remember a scene, one in particular, about a girl who wields a giant key, swallowing up the darkness of three boys into a locket, destroying one in the process. Keir, Vaughn, and Dallas. I know other details, but that is the jist of it. I was created of the darkness of these three boys meshed together, but mostly of Keir, the Heartless._

_One girl in particular keeps appearing in my thoughts, one with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes that shine golden in the sun, a keyblade, and the ability to create hearts. I can feel her presence, and what confused me the most is I could feel her in two places at once. I believe this girl can help me learn about my origins, Keir, Vaughn, and Dallas._

_So first, I went towards one world hidden far off in the distance by the name of Aureole of the Dark and discovered an abandoned tower. In my plan, this should be the only place to remain light so that the Nobody I would be after would not fade. She is, after all, going to be a key in luring Cora, the girl from my thoughts here, as she is the only one who will know where I can find Vice, the man that I am after for a heart so I can become human. She will also, of course, help me discover more about Keir, Vaughn and Dallas._

_I had decided to head towards the world, Song's Shimmer as it is the closest, and I realized that the girl was a Nobody shortly after I arrived at Aureole of Dark, but she can wield a keyblade, the same as me. More possible than not, she is more confused than even I am. Still, I believe this Nobody can help me in my plan to make myself whole and learn about my past._

"So that's why he needed Kione so badly," Raelyn half whispered when she finished reading the report, "because it would lure Cora towards the world so he could find Vice. But nobody knows where he is now..."

"So there's no harm in calling them and telling them the name of the world," Kairi mentioned. "That way, they can go over there and stop them from darkening the worlds and finding Vice, and taking his heart away."

"I'll call them," Sora practically chirped. It was the first Apollyon Report that they had found on their own and so far, it was the one with the most information.

* * *

**Umeko's Gummi Ship**

"I'm not seeing anything new on the radar," Umeko complained as she drove the ship and Cora took charge of the ammunition, "but I didn't exactly expect them to pick a world out in the open, either. I'm betting an asteroid belt," Umeko laughed nervously, avoiding yet another asteroid in the third belt they had flown through.

"I don't blame you," Cora mumbled, a little upset. They were running out of ammunition. Not only that, but Naminé and Roxas's excited mumbling from outside of the cockpit wasn't helping her concentrate. She suddenly had a lot more respect for when Umeko drove the Gummi Ship; when she was on her own for a year, she only drove herself.

"Someone's calling," Umeko pointed out, hearing Cora's ringtone.

"I'll put it on speakerphone," Cora said, a bit distressed for leaving the ammunition to get it.

"Don't answer it!" Umeko called, "We need... agh, it doesn't matter, something's barfing fail all over the place in the Gummi Ship... prepare for a crash landing in... whatever that world is," Umeko warned, her voice shaking. The world beneath them looked oddly familiar. "Pride land," she shouted, "prepare for a crash landing in Pride Land."

Cora abandoned her phone as she gripped the edge of the seat and Umeko took as many cautious procedures as she could; they were heading straight for the world beneath them.

**Author's Note: That was a good ending spot. And the moral of the story: Never answer your cell phone while you're driving. xD Actually, it wasn't Cora leaving the controls that caused the crash landing, I'll explain what was 'barfing fail all over the place' in the next chapter. Until then!**


	7. New Recruitment

**Author's Note: So guys, as I'm typing this I'm very tired so don't expect much out of me with this. In fact, this author's note is pretty suckish because I don't know what to say. I got my bangs cut today? If that means anything to any of you? xD So yeah, please read and review.**

* * *

_**Chapter VII:**_

_**New Recruitment**_

"_You knocked our faces to the floor_

_But this is what we lived for_

_I know you want us to quit_

_But we'll never give up._

_Watch out, beware._

_We took a beating and we don't care._

_Sometimes when you lose you win._"

'Sometimes When You Lose You Win (We'll Never Give Up) by Karate High School

* * *

Naminé, Roxas, Umeko and Cora were lucky that Umeko knew how to work her Gummi Ship well. It was almost too bad that the ship was broken; no, it wasn't just broken. It was completely mutilated. Luckily, the four keyblade wielders managed to make it out without a scratch. "Stranded in Pride Lands," Umeko sighed.

"We're not stranded," Cora said, feigning optimism. "we just need to call in for help." She pulled out her cell phone which, apparently, could survive an atomic bomb, and dialed Sora. No service atall. "Okay, we're stranded."

Naminé sighed. "Vice taught you a lot of magic, right?" she asked Cora, "Can you change us so we better fit this world?"

Cora frowned. "I can try," she admitted, and summoned Ether Essence. She hadn't quite needed to use her keyblade very much since their journey started, or maybe she was too used to the mind-numbing keyblade wielding that came with fighting the forces of light one year, Rhapsodies the next and an insane amount of Heartless the last.

With a bit of magic, the four of them transformed and Cora seemed pretty satisfied with her work. All of them were lion teenagers, and they all looked different in a way. **Author's Note: Remember the one scene of The Lion King when Simba is walking with Timon and Pumbaa over that log, going through the time periods of his life? Imagine all of them in their 'teenager lion' stage.**

Cora was a dark brown lion, seemingly the same shade as her hair, with her same eyes, which were extremely deepset. Her tail was longer than the others', but her whiskers were shorter. Umeko was a golden lion with long whiskers and a medium-length tail, the fur at the end of the tail a light brown. Naminé was similar to Umeko in that respect, except that she was extremely pale. Roxas, however, had golden blonde fur with medium brown hair that sort of resembled Sora's. "Looks good," Roxas was the first to say.

Cora smiled again, proud of herself. The other three took in this moment; as of late it was very unique to see Cora smiling. Of course, Umeko knew her smile because she was friends with her for most of her life, but the others didn't know it quite as well.

"Maybe if we look around, we'll be able to find a... lion who can repair Gummi Ships... or... signal flares... or... something..." Roxas was beginning to run out of ideas and encouraging words; he just didn't quite have the pep that Sora did.

"You know, there's no signal in here, but my cell phone does have a tracker," Umeko stated, and rushed into the half-destroyed Gummi Ship, and ran back out with her cell phone in her mouth. She spit it onto the ground and hit a button with her paw, and then another, and the cell phone began flashing red on the LCD screen. "I sent a distress call to Sora and the others. They should get here in about an hour."

"An hour like this?" Cora asked, sighing.

"What was _that_?" a voice called from outside the clearing, and a figure came out of the trees.

"So loud," came another voice, this one more female. Two lion cubs appeared about the four 'teenage lions', one of them looked so much like Nala but seemed to have Simba's determination. For the ones who hadn't been to Pride Lands before, they had learned a lot about Simba and Nala from Sora's stories.

The other one, however, looked most like Cora, with extremely dark fur and an even darker mane, barely growing in, with bright green eyes that reminded Cora so much of Vice's that she backed up a pace.

"Whoa, you're part of the outlands? How come I've never seen you before?" the dark lion asked Cora.

Cora didn't know how to respond to that, so she looked at Naminé, who nodded. She knew how to play roles alright. "Long lost cousin," she stated, nodding fiercely. It was a wonder that Cora used to act in school. Keyblade wielding really messed with your talents in all other fields of extra-curricular, if keyblade wielding could be called that.

"Who are you, Pridelanders??" the lion growled, backing up a pace at the sight of Naminé, Roxas and Umeko. He then looked at the source of the other voice, the lioness cub. The lioness began hopping from side to side in an offensive stance, growling.

"What are you doing?" the dark lion asked, calmer now and not at all affected by her attempts at scaring him away.

"My father says to never turn your back on an Outsider," the pale lioness stated, not faltering.

"This sounds a bit racist," Umeko pointed out.

"Fur-color-ist?" Cora asked, lifting her paw and looking at it.

"You always do what daddy says?" the dark lion asked her, not paying much attention to the other 'Pridelanders' or his 'long lost cousin'.

"No!" the lioness exclaimed, straightening up a bit now. They really were acting like children.

"Betcha do," the dark lion began to taunt her, "Betcha daddy's little girl. Well an outsider doesn't need anybody. We can take care of ourselves. Right, cousin?" he asked, looking over at Cora, who was staring at a pretty butterfly flying across them.

"Oh? Right," Cora said, nodding, "I'm Cora, by the way."

"Yourselves? Really? Cool!" the pale lioness said, truly in awe. She seemed like she didn't get out much. Maybe she really was Simba's son? At that moment, several Shadows appeared in front of them. Cora, Naminé, Roxas and Umeko immediately called upon Ether Essence, Oathbreaker, Oathkeeper, Oblivion and Shark Attack, destroying as many as possible. The two lion cubs, though frightened, helped take out one Shadow.

"We make such a good team!" the lioness stated, panting slightly. "And all of you," she looked at Cora, Roxas, Naminé and Umeko, "and you, you were... so brave," she said, her voice truly becoming female for the first time since they met her.

"Yeah," the dark lion stated, straightening up, "you were pretty brave, too. My name's Kovu," he stated.

"Kiara," game the lioness. They looked at Cora and the others.

They all exchanged introductions before Kiara and Kovu initiated a game of tag between the six of them. Maybe the hour would pass by a little quicker that way.

* * *

**Deep Jungle**

"Where did you find this?" Sora asked Jane as he hung up the cell phone when nobody was answering. Riku, Kairi and Raelyn also began to listen intently; maybe she had seen who had dropped it.

"Terk told Tarzan that a very tall man dropped it, but that was all that she had said," Jane said apologetically.

"That might mean it was Apollyon!" Kairi exclaimed. **Author's Note: Just wait, Kairi, just wait. :D**

"Well he just left behind our ticket to finding him and beating him," Sora said happily, "Aureole of the Dark. That's an interesting name," he mused, "but I've never seen it anywhere on the radar before, or heard of it. It must be really hidden."

"We should go find Cid," Raelyn suggested, "he might be able to find it with that awesome, high-tech radar he's got."

"I agree, so we're going to Ra-" Sora was cut short as something that sounded urgent began to beep on his phone. He picked it up and looked at the screen; it was some sort of emergency call, and it was from Pride Lands. "Looks like we're going to Pride Lands," he said instead, "I guess it's urgent."

* * *

**Pride Lands**

In the middle of their playing, it seemed, Simba appeared behind Kiara and a scrawny-looking, pale lion behind Kovu. So it wasn't the fur color that distinguished between the Outlanders and the Pridelanders, so what was it? **Author's Note: How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?** The world may never know.

"Zira," Simba said coolly, but not before he looked at Cora, Umeko, Roxas and Naminé and muttered something like, "teenagers always stir up the trouble."

"Simba!" the lioness hissed now, extremely upset and noticeably bearing more hatred towards the other lion than Simba had towards Zira.

"Nala," Zira stated again as another pale lioness, Nala appeared next to Simba.

"Zira," Nala stated.

Suddenly, the lions were silent as they looked at the keyblade wielders. "Who are you?" Zira asked, genuinely confused and extremely out of character as her voice contained no hissing or growling.

Umeko, Roxas and Naminé introduced themselves, but Zira shook her head, "No, the Outlander," she growled now.

"Cora," Cora stated, sighing, "long-lost cousin." Cora could barely suppress her want to attach an 'at your service' at the end of her sentence.

"Timon, Pumbaa," came another voice, this one of more of Sora's old friends, standing next to the giant warthog, Pumbaa. "Now that we all know each other... GET OUT OF OUR PRIDE LANDS!" Timon shouted as loud as he possibly could.

"_Your_ Pride Lands?" Zira stated with so much acid in her voice that she could burn through a seven-foot thick concrete wall.

"I banished you from the Pride Lands," Simba said as calmly as he could manage, although he was starting to get annoyed. "Now you and your young cub... get out!" he barked at them fiercely.

"Oh, you haven't met my son, Kovu?" Zira asked, now suddenly fond of her cub, "He was hand-chosen by Scar to follow in his pawprints and become King."

"That's not a king!" Timon retorted, "That's a fuzzy maraca!"

"Burn!" Cora shouted, and suddenly, the eight other lions and Timon and Pumbaa were staring at her. "Eh... heh..." Cora mumbled, and backed up a pace. She felt so socially awkward sometimes.

"Take him and get out, and that lioness as well," Simba said after a little more throwing insults and retorts, "we're finished here. And you three really shouldn't be hanging around the Outlanders," Simba said to Umeko, Naminé and Roxas.

"But what's so bad about them?" Roxas asked.

"Yes, Simba, what's so bad about us?" Zira asked now, but they all walked away as Simba urged them on. Umeko, however, knowing that Cora could read lips relatively well, lipped to her, 'We'll think of something.'

"What were you doing in the Pridelands?" Zira hissed at Kovu, and then looked at Cora. "And you, too! A newcomer to the Outlands and already getting into trouble." They made their way farther out, and came across two other lions. One was about a teenager, like Cora, and seemed very dirty, and very itchy, as he was scratching himself everywhere. The other one was a cub and seemed to be the most sane one of all of the Outlanders Cora had seen so far.

"You!" Zira shouted at the larger lion, "Nuka, you were supposed to be watching him!"

They faught for a while, Kovu only looking down at his own paws, before the smaller one, who later introduced herself to Cora as Vitani, spoke. "Try living with them," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Zira's sometimes bearable, Kovu never wants to fight, and Nuka's dirty."

"Must suck living out here in the Outlands, then," Cora stated.

"It's not too bad," Vitani admitted, "I'd like it a lot better if I wasn't living with these clowns."

Meanwhile, Umeko, Naminé and Roxas were forced to listen to a touchy song between Simba and Kiara, and managed to slip away during the chorus. "That was cute," Umeko admitted, "but we have to get back to the ship or else Sora won't be able to find us."

"He's smart enough to look," Roxas admitted, "and I kinda want to look around."

"Oh, look at that, trees," Umeko said a bit sarcastically before summoning Shark Attack into her mouth and muttering, "Lessgo."

They bounded through the long fields, which slowly grew less vegetated and dryer as they neared the Outlands. It wasn't long, it seemed, before they reached where Kovu slept, or so they thought, because they found Zira tucking in a baby Kovu to bed and singing an extremely gruesome song with two other lions.

"Pridelanders!" the one teenage, disgusting-looking lion named Noku shouted.

Vitani, the small lioness turned towards them, but it was Zira whos tood in front of all of them. "We're here to take Cora back and go home," Umeko said, trying not to start a fight with her words, but it seemed she had.

"Our long-lost cousin has finally returned to us and you _Pridelanders_ want to take her back?" Zira asked angrily.

"Wait just a second!" Naminé said, uncharacteristically pissed off, "You just met her, you've never heard of her before, and what good is she going to do you anyway?" Though she was barely audible with Oathbreaker in her mouth, Zira seemed to understand her, and ran up to attack her.

Before Naminé was hit by Zira, she was knocked away by another keyblade that looked oddly like Destiny Blade. Destiny Blade? Naminé turned towards the figure that stopped Zira from attacking her, as did the rest of the lions around them. Another teenage lion with red fur and a white belly stood in front of the three other lions.

Sora looked oddly like Kovu, except his growing mane spiked out very much. Raelyn had light brown fur, and they could practically feel Noku and Vitani's confusion as to whether or not she was an Outlander. Riku was, of course, pure silver everywhere, his seafoam green eyes really popping against everything else.

"You made it just in time, all of you," Cora stated happily, and ran past the lions. All of them rushed forward as well, chased by Zira, Vitani and Noku for only a little time before it was finally given up. They all went to Sora's Gummi Ship and headed towards Radiant Garden. It seemed Umeko and her group would have to use Cora's Neon from now on.

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry I rushed this part of the chapter a bit, but I was running out of things to do because the movie only has so much time of Kiara and Kovu as cubs and also, it's almost midnight over here and I'm tiring out. Dx**

* * *

**Aureole of Dark**

After finding the first Apollyon's Report in Deep Jungle on his search, he knew that the only way he would have a chance of defeating and stopping Apollyon would be to join with him and wait for the opportune time, maybe when he was sleeping, to defeat him. In the meantime, the hardest part would be passing himself off as part of the darkness. His face wrapped in red ribbon, all except for one eye, everything about him was completely shrouded in mystery.

Apollyon was a sight that he did not expect, and he definitely saw Keir, Vaughn and Dallas in him. his hair was an odd mix of blond, red and blue, and his eyes were violet and grey, not seeming to reflect any of Dallas's blue. If anything, his body reminded Vice of Keir's the most. It was almost like looking back a year into the past; he wondered what Vaughn and Dallas, alive and happy at Amber Pearls, would think if they knew that most of their darkness had manifested itself into a real human being; one that lacked a heart. At that point, he was no different from a Nobody, wasn't he?

"You think you can help me find Thomas?" Apollyon asked. His voice mostly resembled Keir's as well. Kione, obviously Cora's Heartless, was leaning against the wall that Vice was facing close to Apollyon, her arms folded over her chest. This reminded Vice faintly of when he had given Cora the choice of the darkness four years before. Something flipped over in his stomach.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Where did you get all of my information?" Apollyon asked him now.

Vice raised an eyebrow (although they couldn't see it) as if thinking, 'are you serious?' before he answered, "You left your reports scattered all over the worlds. I saw them, and I was interested."

Apollyon nodded. "I've been through every single world, studying them as I douse them in darkness. Why is it I've never seen you before?"

"The same reason you've never seen Thomas before," Vice responded.

This seemed to be a good enough answer for Apollyon, as he smiled and nodded. "Very well. Your name?"

A name. A name. Vice didn't even think about that. "Sevar," Vice responded, thinking on his feet. "My name is Sevar."

Apollyon grinned. "Kione, would you please show... _Sevar_ one of his rooms?"

Kione scoffed, "Sure, why not, I'm used to it," she stated bitterly, obviously remembering showing Blaise and Sienna their rooms. Blaise and Sienna; Vice would have to find their free will somewhere around there. Somewhere along the line, he had figured out that Kione must have had their free wills.

Apollyon smiled and ruffled Kione's hair. "We'll train more with the keyblade later."

As Vice left the room, he had a sudden realization that made him feel physically sick. How could someone without a heart be so friendly towards Kione? And the smile that he had given her seemed to _genuine_. Was he really evil...?

'_Of course he's evil_,' Vice told himself, snapping himself out of it. He was trying to bring out Thomas and take his heart, all to become whole. Then again, Vice had used Cora to create a new, untainted heart for himself so _he_ could be human as well...

It was too much to think about for the moment. What he needed to think about was saving Blaise, Sienna and himself by destroying Apollyon and reuniting Kione with Cora, if that was possible. If not, he would just destroy her, too.

"_Sevar_," Kione stated as if she had said the name several times, which was very possible, "Here," she stated, kicking the door to a medium-sized, plain looking room open. It was then that Vice remembered the mirror room; he would have to find it.

"Where do you sleep?" Vice asked out of curiosity.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Kione stated, sighing and walking away.

**Author's Note: For some reason, this chapter was hard to write; it could be because I'm so freakishly tired. Dx I really wanted to get this chapter up, though. I hope you like it, and I'll try to make the next one... not so boring and a little more detailed. Sorry for rushing through so much. Please review!**


	8. Blaise

**Author's Note: In case you all couldn't tell, Sevar is an anagram of Versa; think about it. Vice-Versa. I thought that was a cute bit of information. On the epilogue of this story, I'll mention it again. Anyway, I'm sorry for the horrible quality of the last chapter; I was extremely tired. Oh, and school starts for me on Thursday, so my updates **_**may**_** be slow, but I'm pretty good at keeping up, so I'll try my best to do one every day or two. R and R please!**

* * *

_**Chapter VIII:**_

_**Blaise**_

"_We'll write a song_

_That turns out the lights_

_When both boy and girl start suddenly shaking inside._

_Don't waste your time_

_Speed up your breathing._

_Just close your eyes._

_We'll hope it's not for nothing at all._"

'Secret Valentine' by We The Kings

* * *

**Aureole of Dark**

"What do you think, Kione," Apollyon began, ruffling the right side of his hair, which was entirely strawberry blond, "about this Sevar?" He let his multicolored eyes drift over to Cora's Nobody, who was sparring with some Heartless that Apollyon had summoned and her own Nobodies, that resembled lions, except they were blue and white, and their manes looked like blue and black fire. These Nobodies were called Lyons.

"I don't," Kione admitted, holding her keyblade, Mirrored Memories in reverse in her right hand, spinning around and destroying a few Shadows in one fell swoop. "He does seem oddly familiar, though." At that, Apollyon looked at her, and she clarified, "Familiar to... Cora. Not to me." She recalled the only two people that she had ever met aside from who resided in the tower to be a tall, red-haired Nobody and a short girl that looked like Pocahontas.

"I wonder if he has a connection to her," Apollyon mused aloud, and Kione stopped, sitting down on the only other chair in the training room. If Apollyon wasn't going to assess her training, there was no point in training.

"If he does, would he also have a connection to Keir, Vaughn and Dallas?" Kione asked.

"True... I just wonder why I feel so... skeptical about him." At that, the living essence of darkness, Apollyon looked up at the roof, which was made out of glass. They were, after all, in the tallest point of the tower. Above them, three moons circled around each other. "Still, I feel like he can help me take Thomas's heart."

"My Somebody," Kione stated, "can create hearts. Why don't you just make her create one for yourself? Then you wouldn't have to deal with all of this darkness or searching for Thomas." Apollyon then eyed her quickly.

"That, Kione, is plan B," he admitted, "but I want Thomas's heart. One that can survive through any amount of darkness, one given to a Heartless whose body and soul were created from the darkness. The strongest heart I've ever seen..."

"I'm sure Cora would be able to make you a strong heart if she made one for Thomas."

"She was forced to make one for Thomas," Apollyon said, "Thomas had an uncanny ability to manipulate people for a short amount of time, I wonder if he still has it... but he had to manipulate Cora to give him a heart. The only time we would be able to take such a strong heart from Thomas, however, would be when all worlds are eclipsed in darkness, and he is no longer part of the light realm. His body and soul will be temporarily overwhelmed, and we can take his heart."

Kione nodded, "Fine, do it the hard way," she stated, blowing her bangs out of her face. "So, when will Blaise have to go?"

"Shortly," Apollyon admitted, "he and Sienna have already done their job as a distraction, now all they need to do is get rid of Cora and the others." At this, Kione shifted where she was sitting uncomfortably, said nothing, and nodded her head. "In fact, we should send him out now if he wants to make it to Radiant Garden before tomorrow. Although Thomas may be there with them at Radiant Garden, we still have two more days before we're ready to steal his heart, so just order him to destroy the keyblade wielders."

Again, Kione nodded and left the room.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

It seemed like forever since the last time they had all met together in Merlin's House. Merlin had finally been tied away into a separate room for thinking he was a Heartless and punching people in the chest. It made Sora wonder faintly if all of the other Rhapsodies that they restored to people had any side-effects like Merlin's, or if Merlin was just naturally insane.

"Aureole of the Dark?" Cid asked, flicking his toothpick to the left side of his mouth. "Never heard of it. Gimme a minute 'n I'll see if I kin find it in my long-range radar." It seemed like forever that Cid took to search for that, but in moments, Aerith, the only one who wasn't in Merlin's house, rushed inside of it, panting.

"Sora, Riku, Kairi... all of you... we need your help!" she cried.

"What is it?" Sora asked, hopping up from his seat as well as the seven others.

"Two Darksides just appeared in the middle of Radiant Garden. The defensive system can't handle that much; I think the darkness is becoming way too prominent!" At that, she paused for a breath, which gave Sora a moment to look at the others.

"Riku, Kairi, Raelyn and I'll take care of one, and you four," he motioned towards Cora, Naminé, Roxas and Umeko, "can get rid of the other. Sounds good?" Cora nodded and stood up, and everyone followed.

"There hasn't been a Darkside in Radiant Garden since we came here with Sienna, remember?" Kairi asked Sora as they rushed out and followed Aerith towards where the Darksides were. Sora nodded; how could they forget? Sienna had passed out, and when she woke up, she had a keyblade.

Cora, Umeko, Roxas and Naminé all ran over to the first Darkside they found, which was taller than the other and staring straight at them as if they were bugs invading his home. It immediately pounded its palm against hte floor, and several Shadows and even some Neoshadows appeared. Cora began to destroy these with Umeko, but Naminé and Roxas ran up to hack at its head by running up its arm.

"Naminé, not that far up!" Roxas called to Naminé, who was rushing way too fast up to its head.

"The sooner we get rid of it, the better," Naminé called, but the Darkside did what Roxas had feared; it shrugged Naminé off of itself in a violent thrash, also sending Cora backwards with his hand, though Umeko managed to avoid it, and Roxas clung to his arm.

Naminé fell straight down and cried out as she hit the ground. Roxas immediately let go of the Darkside and rushed to Naminé. It looked as if her legs were broken. "Curaga, curaga," Roxas kept muttering, using both of his keyblades to try and heal her. By the look on Naminé's face, it was obvious that the pain was subsiding, but her bones wouldn't heal.

"Sit there," Roxas said, his eyes practically burning with rage.

"I have a choice?" Naminé sighed as Roxas ran away, wielding both Oathkeeper and Oblivion tight in his hands. Umeko took over where Roxas had left, attacking the Darkside's hands and head, and Cora was forced to take care of all of the Heartless on her own.

"I'll get the other hand," Roxas called up to Umeko, who was balancing on the Darkside's arm. She simply nodded and began to hack away at the giant Heartless with Shark Attack, which seemed to be doing a considerable amount of damage.

"And I'll be down here, struggling," Cora called up to them, although they could tell she was joking. Cora looked over at Naminé and frowned; "What did you do, Roxas, throw her off of the Darkside?" she called up to the honeycomb blond.

"She fell!" Roxas called, "And I'm going to get it for it!"

Cora nodded, believing him. He wouldn't let anything happen to Naminé if he could avoid it. In a cool, spin-like move, she spun around, holding Ether Essence with both hands like a helicopter, and destroying three Neoshadows in the process. Umeko, in the meantime, just got hit by a swipe from the Darkside, but clung back onto its hand, jumped back up, and hacked at it again; this had to be the strongest Darkside they'd ever fought.

"I'm starting to wish the Heartless still listened to me," Cora muttered.

"Don't worry, me, too," Umeko grunted, stabbing the hand of the creature with Shark Attack. This seemed to do the trick, as the Darkside thrashed and threw Roxas off of himself, and Roxas didn't manage to catch himself before he hit the ground. "Roxas!" Cora called, "Not you, too!" She ran from the Heartless, leaving Umeko to finish off the Darkside, which seemed near its destruction.

"My arm..." Roxas muttered; his arm was facing the other way. It was quite crazy looking, actually. "I can't fight with one keyblade."

Cora shook her head. "No, that's one thing Sora can do that you can't," she muttered, "we're going to have to get you both to Aerith, she'll know how to help. Curaga," she said, trying to ease the pain. In the meantime, the Darkside they had been fighting had finally been destroyed, dropping a great sum of munny in the process, which Umeko picked up.

Sora, Kairi, Riku and Raelyn seemed to get rid of their Darkside with no real problems at all. In fact, they seemed much happier afterwards, and their Darkside dropped more munny and some synthesis items that Sora wouldn't mind testing out. He let Ultima disappear and said, "Ice cream's on me," he then frowned, looking over at Roxas and Naminé at opposite sides of where the Darkside was, both of them hurt.

"This blows," was all Cora managed to say, sighing.

"I'll get Naminé, you get Roxas," Kairi said, motioning over to their previous Nobodies. Sora nodded, and they both ran over and picked them up. "We've got to get back to Merlin's house, and quickly." Kairi told them all, and for once, she was the leader.

Aerith, who had rejoined everybody in Merlin's house, frowned at the sight of Naminé and Roxas. "This isn't going to take five minutes, you all know that, right?" she asked, uncharacteristically distressed. She never quite had to mend so many bones in one sitting, despite her being such an experienced healer.

"No, no, no," Naminé said, putting her fist to her mouth and chewing on her knuckle, a habit she picked up from Kairi, "we have to help them find Apollyon. Cid's on the trail of Aureole of the Dark right now!"

"I'm not going to let a broken arm keep me here," Roxas argued, stumbling up and summoning Oathkeeper and Oblivion, despite Aerith's protests, and Oblivion seemed to be fine, but Oathkeeper weighed him down to the ground. "Ow."

"Roxas," Umeko said, shaking her head, "your Sora's showing." Sora then gave Umeko a look of chagrin.

"That just made it worse, Roxas," Aerith said, who seemed to have calmed down a bit. "We still have those rooms that Merlin made. You two will have to rest in there while we fix you up, but it will take a while."

"How long?" Leon asked curiously, who was leaning against the doorway. Cloud was in another room with Tifa, trying to cook all of their dinners and failing miserably; it seemed only Aerith was capable of household duties in Merlin's house. Maybe that's why Merlin kept them around for so long after Hollow Bastion was restored to Radiant Garden again. At the rate the darkness was engulfing, however, it seemed to be back to Hollow Bastion.

"A week, two tops," Aerith murmured.

"_What_?!" both Roxas and Naminé shouted at the same time.

Aerith put her hands on her hips, "It can take six for people without magic- do you want me to send you to a real hospital?" she asked them, and suddenly, Naminé and Roxas shut up, feeling like young children again, shaking their heads as they looked towards the ground. "Good," Aerith said, "it looks like Sora, Riku, Kairi, Raelyn, Umeko and Cora... you guys are on your own."

"Speaking of," Umeko said, looking at Cid, "any leads on Aureole of the Dark yet?"

Cid smiled, finally getting some attention. "Yeh, I found it, but there's no road open, not yet."

Sora looked crestfallen, but always, he had that glimmer of hope within him. "What do we need to do to open it?"

Cid frowned. "Looks like all the darkness is locking up the worlds. I'd say if you unlocked these three worlds," he pointed towards three worlds on the screen: Agrabah, Olympus Coliseum and Destiny Islands, "yeh can get a road open, but it'll be a difficult one."

"That's good enough," Sora said proudly, putting his hands on his hips. Kairi gripped his arm in excitement.

"And when we put an end to this," Cora said, "Vice'll come out of hiding."

"And," Umeko said, "we can save Blaise and Sienna."

"First we have to go get Dallas and Vaughn," Riku said strictly. All of the others looked over at him, and he stated, "the only way to defeat Apollyon would be to give them back their darkness. I'm sure Umeko can do that with her anti-form." Umeko looked surprised; she hadn't used that since the year before, but she nodded. "And I think they're strong enough to handle it now."

"We'll get them after we've opened the road, there's no reason to bother them now," Kairi compromised, and Riku nodded. "We should head for home, first. It's been a long day, what with Cora, Umeko, Roxas and Naminé getting stranded, the Darksides and Roxas and Naminé's injuries."

"We'll be here," Roxas said boredly, "no help to any of you."

Kairi gave Roxas a sad smile before she turned back towards all of them. "There's no time to make a stop at Destiny Islands, especially if it's in peril. But there's no way we'll be able to fight without some sleep, so let's go to the castle."

Cora and Umeko led the way out of Merlin's house, knowing the way to the castle the best of all of them. Halfway through their silent journey, however, they found a figure that they were both excited and nauseous to see: Blaise.

"Blaise!" Sora cried out, who had become more friendly with him than any of the others having always traveled with him, Donald and Goofy when the Rhapsodies were attacking. "Blaise, your free will is being held captive, you have to listen to us-"

Blaise, however, who was leaning against a building, jumped up and summoned One Dream, which seemed slightly darker than before, or it could be that the sun was so blocked up by clouds of darkness that everything looked to be in an everlasting dawn.

"I've got this, stay out," Sora assured the others. Riku opened his mouth to shout at him, but a barrier appeared between Sora and everyone else. Ultima appeared in his hands almost as fast as One Dream had in Blaise's. He tried to talk to him again, but no response came from Blaise. He was entirely silent.

As Sora dodged a few attacks from Blaise, he kept looking around the world, looking for a figure that may have Blaise's free will, and finally, he saw a silhouette on top of a roof. He tried to call out to his friends, who were behind the barrier, and tell them, but they couldn't hear. It was like talking through glass, and Cora, Kairi, Raelyn, Riku and Umeko all just gave him an odd look like he was going nuts. **Author's Note: One, why do I always pick on Sora? And two, I just listed everyone in alphabetical order by accident... xD**

Meanwhile, outside of the barrier, Umeko was shaking her head, slightly embarrassed as Sora continued to fight Blaise. "I don't get it," Umeko sighed, "Blaise isn't going to stop until Sora's dead, but Sora wouldn't kill Blaise. I don't think any of us could bare to watch him die a _second_ time. No offence, Kairi."

"None taken," Kairi admitted. She hadn't seen Blaise die, anyway; she stuck around at Eventide Mountains to help take care of Anixens as she kept up with the portal; it seemed so long since then and it had only been two years.

Riku, as if reading Kairi's mind, stated, "It's been even longer since Sienna left. I still feel bad sometimes for giving her up to save everybody. I should have had more faith in her and everyone else." Riku sighed.

"You can't keep blaming yourself for that," Cora shrugged, "you _can_, however, keep blaming Thomas and myself. We were the ones that kept making you spy for us against your will even after you decided you didn't want to anymore."

Riku managed to smile at that. "Right," he dragged on, "Thomas had that fun ability to overtake people for some amount of time. I wonder if every Heartless can do that." That got Cora and the others thinking for a moment.

"Maybe only the strong ones," Umeko said.

"Dude," Raelyn said, sighing, "I can't believe we're sitting here chatting when... _that's_ happening," she said, motioning to Sora, who was being pinned down by Blaise, his hand behind his back, and Blaise hit the ground three times. This actually made the group chuckle despite the seriousness of the situation. **Author's Note: Imagine a wrestling match, and that's what Blaise is doing to Sora; forget the keyblades. xD Again with my picking on Sora. Don't get me wrong, I love him, he's just so fun.**

"I wonder if there's a way to help him," Kairi mentioned, but nobody answered as they continued to watch the fight.

* * *

**Aureole of the Dark**

The tower was tall and complicated, each room holding an abundance of information. Vice- or Sevar- had mentally thanked himself for being able to pull off a DiZ so well. Apollyon couldn't even tell that it was him, but something told him that they were suspicious, they being both Apollyon and Kione. He hadn't even seen Sienna or Blaise yet, but he knew that Blaise was sent to Radiant Garden to destroy the others; Vice was worried.

It wasn't long before Vice found himself in the Mirror Room. As he stepped inside, he realized that he could never be in that room with Apollyon; it showed him exactly for who he was. On the mirror on his left, he saw himself, Vice. His hair had long since gone back to normal, his eyes as well, when he arrived at the one world without darkness hovering everywhere. In the mirror in front of him, he saw Axel. "But I thought I left behind all traces of Axel when the darkness supplied me with a body and soul of my own... and Cora with my heart." He supposed he could never truly hide where he came from.

On the mirror to the right was Thomas, looking at him with eyes that could kill. He suddenly realized what had made him such a threat when he was trying to open Kingdom Hearts and the Door to Color; he was quite frightening.

"This is the mirror room," Vice muttered.

"Yes," came a voice from the doorway, and Vice jumped, backing up. It was only Sienna. "The mirror on the left shows you in the Light Realm, the one in the front in the Realm of Inbetween, in the one on the right is the Dark Realm."

"I figured that out," Vice admitted. To Sienna's left, he could see her, to the center, he saw Anixens, and to the right was Sienna in her Heartless form, the one that Hades had rescued her from and brought her back from, wherever she had gone into hiding.

"So you're him," Sienna stated, but she wasn't looking at Vice- or Sevar- anymore. She walked over to his reflection in the mirror of the Dark Realm, right at Thomas. "You're really the one that Apollyon's after."

The reflection, to Vice's surprise, smiled at the girl and put his hand up, as if he was putting it up to a mirror on the other side. "Is he really-" Vice began, but was interrupted.

"Smoke and mirrors," was all Sienna responded, "it's all smoke and mirrors." She looked back over to Vice and stared at him for a moment, a silence hung around them. Finally, it seemed, Sienna spoke. "I forgive you, you know."

Vice, however, raised an eyebrow, though it wasn't visible through the red ribbon. "What do you-"

"I forgive you for stealing my heart," she said, "and for forcing my Nobody to create an army of Rhapsodies. And mostly, I forgive you for letting your hair go back to straight black, because it looked a lot better with red streaks."

This caused Vice to smile. "You're definitely Sienna, from the stories I've heard," he stated, "my question is, why are you talking to me like this? Doesn't Kione have your free will?" he asked, looking at the platinum blond, but she looked down at her feet.

"She does," she admitted, "but she's not doing anything with it right now."

"Why don't you just run away?" Vice asked her now, "Before she can do something with it?"

"Because she'll just bring me right back," Sienna laughed, "you, of all people, should know what it's like when the darkness has got its grip on you. It doesn't let you go; someone else has to make it let go for you."

Vice's smile calmed and he looked at his feet as well, remembering Cora, who had pulled him out of the darkness, even when he had made Naminé alter her memories, and she thought that Thomas was her ally. "Yeah," he said, nodding, "I do."

**Author's Note: That seemed like a decent place to end. So, I like this chapter way better than my other one, and I've got the story planned out so it should end on chapter fifteen, with an epilogue on chapter sixteen, so the same as The Forgotten Heart and... Dark Dreams, I believe, if I'm right in saying that Shedding a Light was sixteen chapters and an epilogue long. Oh well, that's not important. Please review!**


	9. Meeting Kione

**Author's Note: Again, I'm typing a chapter late at night, but don't expect this one to be too long. It's mostly preparation for the journey to the three separate worlds, and of course, Sora finishing up his fight with Blaise. I'll also try to add a couple of scenes over at Aureole of the Dark. Please read and review!**

* * *

_**Chapter IX:**_

_**Meeting Kione**_

"_Memories are just where you laid them._

_Drag the waters 'till the depths give up their dead._

_What did you expect to find? Was there something you left behind?_

_Don't you remember anything I said when I said:_

_Don't fall away and leave me to myself._

_Don't fall away and leave love bleeding in my hands._"

'Hemorrhage (In My Hands)' by Fuel

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"Blaise, answer me!" Sora called out to the boy. Blaise knew no fatigue, just his own strength as he and One Dream continued to hack at Ultima, just barely missing every time Sora would dodge and block. Sora was faltering, unwilling to kill Blaise, and Blaise knew it; he would have done the same if he _could_.

The others, however, were still outside of the barrier, watching them like they were monkeys, or moreso like one was a baboon and the other a gorilla; so alike and yet, still fighting. "How much longer do you think he'll hold out?" Umeko asked Cora.

"I give him hours," Cora laughed, "Sora's so full of energy he makes coffee tired."

"I hear that," Kairi said, giggling. Raelyn, however, seemed distressed, her hands in her pockets. Riku seemed to notice, so he looked down at the girl, who shook her short, tousled hair out of her face; it was due for a cut.

"Sora's gotta wear down sooner or later. If Kione's got Blaise's free will, it's not his choice whether or not he tires out. Sora's going to lose if he doesn't just kill Blaise or knock him out... or something. Right?" Raelyn asked.

"Hate to admit it," Cora stated, "but it's true."

"Hey," Umeko said whistfully as they continued to watch the two fighting to the near-death through the see-through barrier, "if Blaise is here against his will, then Kione's gotta be around here _with_ his free will, right?"

Cora's eyes widened, and she looked towards Riku, Raelyn and Kairi.

"I never thought about that," Riku admitted.

At the idea, Cora looked around herself, seeing nothing. Finally, she pointed to a silhouette on the roof that seemed to resemble her completely. "On the roof," she whispered, and everyone looked up.

"But there's no way up there," said Raelyn.

"Then... I guess we have to wait for her to come down here," Kairi sighed.

"If she's half as stubborn as Cora, that could take a while," Umeko managed to laugh despite the situation. Cora crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't _that_ stubborn; at least, she didn't like to think she was.

Meanwhile, the fight finally seemed to be picking up some pace. Sora, tired of his fatigue, finally rushed at Blaise with his keyblade and hit him in the side, sending him flying backwards. Blaise got up immediately and clashed One Dream with Ultima again, but Sora, the more experienced fighter, threw him backwards again, and Blaise, tired himself, fell to the ground, unconscious. The barrier around them disappeared.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted, the first to rush up to him. He had almost collapsed on the ground from the long fight, but he managed to give Kairi a weak smile.

"You worry too much, Kairi," Sora laughed.

Kairi put her hands on her hips. "You _make_ me worry too much!"

Cora and Umeko, however, were focusing on Blaise, who didn't seem to be moving, except for his own breathing. "I wonder if Kione's going to do anything..." Umeko murmured, and Cora looked down at Blaise again. He didn't seem to be moving.

There was movement, however, from above them. The entire group of six jumped slightly as a figure jumped from the roof and landed on two feet and one hand, and pushed herself up. Everything about this girl resembled Cora, everything except her darker hair and paler skin, which may have only looked pale in the contrast to the dark hair.

"You're Kione," Cora said, only seconds after Kione landed.

The girl nodded. "You've found most of Apollyon's reports," she acknowledged, and then looked at Blaise, partly frowning, but part of her expression showed that she seemed to have expected it. "You can only fight your friends for so long, I see."

"Why are you working for Apollyon?" Cora asked Kione, unsure of what other question to ask her. The girl got that same amused look on her face that Cora had never seen herself but Umeko and the others had seen dozens of times on herself.

"Why did you work for Thomas?" Kione asked, using Cora's own weapon against her. Cora bit her lip and looked at her feet; she knew why she worked for Thomas. She was confused and afraid. If she admitted to that, what kind of Somebody would she be to Kione? Managing to meet Kione's eyes- her own eyes- again, she sighed. "Doesn't seem like you have Thomas among you anywhere."

"If we knew where he was," Riku spoke up, suddenly looking taller and fiercer, "we wouldn't be running around here like idiots trying to find him."

Kione, deep in thought, nodded. "I see. Anyway," she glanced at Blaise, unconscious on the ground, and then back at Cora. "I wanted to meet you, Cora. I'd heard so much about you, but not until recently had I heard your name..." This time, it seemed Kione was trying to avoid Cora's eyes, "Your name didn't bring back a thing. I was hoping the sight of you would, but you're no different than the reflection on the light realm mirror."

"The light realm mirror?" Cora asked, "A mirror from the mirror room that Apollyon mentioned in his third report?" Cora was suddenly making a note to treat herself later for having such a great memory that day.

"The same," Kione nodded, "I just don't understand. Why is it that Apollyon knows more about you than I do? The people he's made up of... they only fought _against_ Cora. I _was_ Cora." Kione gulped for a second and then backed up, her hands trembling. "It's like Apollyon says. Once I kill you, I'll have your heart."

"Kione-" Cora started, but was interrupted.

"I'll make you a deal, Cora," Kione started, backing up to stand by Blaise, who was barely managing to get up. "If you can defeat me, I'll recognize your strength and join with you again. After all, if I ever want to come out, there's always Sienna," she motioned backwards into a portal that was being created, "but if I beat you, I guess all's fair in love and war... _princess_, and I'll get your heart."

Cora opened her mouth to protest, but instead, walked up to Kione despite Riku trying to grab her arm to pull her back, and she extended her hand. "Deal," she admitted. Kione reached out to grab her hand as well, but it went straight through it.

"Damn," she murmured, "I have to leave this place." Her hand was slowly disappearing, as was the rest of her body; it was no wonder that she had to stay at Aureole of Darkness; it was also no wonder that none of them had seen any Nobodies but Kione that year. The girl backed up into the portal and Blaise, still a little shaky, followed her.

"Was that a safe bet to make?" Umeko asked, and Cora turned towards her.

"Probably not," Cora admitted, raising an eyebrow, "but that's half the fun of being a keyblade wielder, isn't it?"

* * *

**Later That Night...**

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Raelyn, Cora and Umeko were all hanging around the living room. None of them were having a particularly easy time getting to sleep, and mostly they paced around the room, creating crop circles in the carpet. "I wonder if Destiny Islands is okay. The last time the door was unlocked..." Kairi shuddered.

"If Destiny Islands is swallowed up, everyone knows how to handle it now," Sora assured her, "most of them will end up in Traverse Town, anyway, and we'll find them if that's the case. I'm more worried about Vice."

"Don't be worried about him," Cora said, a line well-practiced as she had said it to herself a multitude of times in the past two days, "he's strong and he'll be fine on his own. What we should be focusing on is stopping Apollyon so the worlds don't swallow themselves up in darkness. Besides, if Vice is still out there somewhere," Cora faltered a little after the word 'still', "he's probably completely Thomas by now."

"That's a scary thought," Umeko admitted, sighing. She was first, before Sora, Riku, Kairi and Sienna, the enemy of Thomas in an attempt to get her friend back. "Apollyon just seems so impractical; he wants to become human so he _has_ to have Thomas's heart because its the strongest, and to do that he _has_ to weaken Vice's body with the darkness. It all seems like too much; why couldn't he just send a Heartless after him?"

"Because he's mostly Keir, and Keir wasn't the brightest bulb in the box," Raelyn responded, remembering the short amount of time that she was brainwashed by Keir, Vaughn and Dallas the year before. They had ever since lost track of that headband. "I think what shocks me is that Donald hasn't called me, screaming at me to get out of this whole mess."

Riku smiled and laughed a little before he said, "I'll bet you anything King Mickey stopped him; he was the only one that gave you any credit, after all."

"Don't say bet," Cora muttered, who stuffed a pillow on her head. Umeko, Raelyn, Sora, Riku and Kairi all had to laugh at her for that one; not only had she made a bet with her heart with Kione, but she had to deal with Stash and his bets so often the year before, more often even than Jocasta. It was because she found a loophole in one of his bets that she managed to get Vice, Umeko, Jocasta and Coy out of Amber Heights prison.

"You know what I need?" Umeko asked, "Hot chocolate."

"I could use some coffee." Cora stood up with Umeko.

"None left, anywhere," Sora sighed, who had just returned from the kitchen, "there's barely any food in there at all."

"We'll just go a little ways away to that café across the street," Cora suggested. She would do anything for coffee, or soda. **Author's Note: Even when Naminé** **is recovering from an injury and not part of the story, I still have to copy and paste that damn e with the accent over it. Dx**

"Sounds good," Umeko said, and they walked outside, pockets full of munny from the Darkside they had defeated. They closed the door in the middle of Sora warning them to be careful, and they could then hear Sora's laughter through the closed doors; he was never careful, why tell Cora and Umeko to be?

"You know what?" Umeko asked, and Cora nodded. "Shut up. I mean, did you notice that all we do is talk about keyblades, darkness, light, and Heartless, Heartless, Heartless?" She stopped as they continued to walk for only a moment before continuing, "You know what I want to talk about? Video games. Video games and pizza. Not-"

At that moment, several Neoshadows appeared before them as well as three or four Wyverns. "Yeah, or we could keep talking about Heartless, I don't mind," Umeko said sarcastically, letting Shark Attack appear in both of her hands.

"The Heartless don't like being ignored, Umeko," Cora laughed, and called Ether Essence as she worked on destroying the first two Wyverns that lunged at her, knocked to the ground only once by the first one that swiped at her when she was in mid-air.

* * *

**Aureole of the Dark**

"I was going to ask whether or not Cora and the others were eliminated, but judging by the look on your face and the fact that you're still a Nobody I'm going to guess the latter," Apollyon said much too jokingly as Kione appeared through a portal to the main living room of the upper levels of Apollyon's tower.

Kione frowned as she watched her right hand slowly reappear after being exposed to the light. "The Keyblade Master beat Blaise with no problem once he actually put his back into it," Kione remarked, and then looked back up at Apollyon. "Naminé and Roxas weren't with them. Sienna won't be the best distraction without them."

"She's still an old friend of Sora's, no?" Apollyon asked, looking over his left shoulder, "Then she should still do fine, but we won't send her out, not quite yet. The day after tomorrow, Thomas should be completely exposed, after all, and our focus should be on finding him and stealing his heart. Cora will always be there, and she will be much easier to defeat for you once I have a heart of my own."

"How am I supposed to believe that you'll keep helping me even after you have your own heart?" Kione asked the taller man with no real heat, just real curiosity.

"A couple of reasons," Apollyon began, "first off, I made a promise, and I don't back off on my promises. Secondly, you summon menacing Nobodies." Apollyon looked past Kione's shoulder, in which a Lyon was cocking its head to the side and wagging its fiery tail excitedly. When they weren't fighting the Lyons for practice, they were more like pets, after all. Kione could never summon them outside of Aureole of the Dark, not with all of the other worlds slowly being eclipsed in darkness. If she could last an hour out in those worlds, then the Lyons would barely last a minute.

"Menacing, right," Kione said, absently stroking the Lyon's head. With that, the Nobody pounded off somewhere, probably to find some kind of a Nobody mouse to eat. "I met Cora today," she mentioned, equally as absently as she pulled out the small Blaise doll from her pocket and studied it for a moment.

"Was she as beautiful as you?" Apollyon asked her, staring straight at her now.

"Alright, what do you want?" Kione asked, stuffing the Blaise doll back in her pocket and crossing her arms. Apollyon wasn't free with compliments. He either sincerely meant them or expected something in return.

"Convince Sevar to go attempt to defeat Cora, maybe she will know where Thomas is."

"Cora doesn't know where Thomas is," Kione informed him, "none of them do. He must've gone MIA on them or something. That doesn't sound like the work of a strong heart to me," she mentioned, raising her left eyebrow.

"A heart's strength isn't defined by its decisions, rather how it carries them out," Apollyon said, walking closer to the girl.

"Where did you read that? Fortune cookie?" Kione asked him. He laughed and stroked her hair slightly before pulling his hand away back to himself and smiling something evil, something that once again looked like Keir's smile.

"Cute," he admitted lightly, but turned on his heel. "Whether or not they know Thomas's location, I expect a lot out of Sevar. Something tells me he would be able to kill Cora and her friends with no problem whatsoever. You will have a heart of your own, and you will be able to go out into the other worlds and find Thomas."

"How selfless," Kione remarked bitterly, but still, she nodded. "I'll see what I can do." She left the room and Apollyon to his own thoughts to go to the spare rooms, trying to remember which one she had stuck Sevar with.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

"Look at this," Umeko gestured to a piece of paper on the ground, wet from when it had drizzled earlier. It seemed that one of the Heartless had dropped it. "Another report," she smiled and read it over before handing it over to Cora. "Nothing special," she admitted, a little crestfallen as they continued walking.

_Apollyon's Fourth Report of Eight_

_With Kione in the tower, my memories are coming back to me, bit by bit. It helps to have someone from your memories, or at least, half of someone from your memories, around you to help you remember. I remember bits and pieces about Sora, Riku, Kairi, a girl named Raelyn and Cora's best friend, Umeko, but mostly, I remember about Thomas._

_Thomas was most definitely the Heartless created when Axel's Somebody lost his heart. What made him so special, however, was that he had started as a shadow, but his darkness was so great that he managed to manipulate the darkness around him to create for him a whole new body and soul, created entirely from darkness. He was a being of complete and utter darkness, though he lacked a heart, much like myself. Still, this separated him completely from Axel, except that they both wield similar weapons._

_Thomas had an extraordinary ability to, though for a short time, manipulate others. Without anybody being able to tell, he managed to steal the heart of the wielder named Sienna and make Cora create a heart for himself on his way away from Kingdom Hearts._

_Along with Xemnas, he discovered the Rhapsodies and used Sienna's Nobody, Anixens to create an army of them. Through their stealing hearts, they multiplied, to act as sort of the Ultimate Heartless. When he failed to open the Door to Color and release more Rhapsodies, natural ones, Cora managed to bring him into the light. His heart, which had grown accustomed to surviving in a body and soul of total darkness, survived the transition. His hair darkened and his eyes lightened, and he began to go by the name of Vice._

_If I wasn't sure enough that Thomas's heart had to be the one back when I only had details and assumptions, then I am most definitely sure now. I will take Thomas's heart; still, I have to wonder what it was about Cora that managed to get Thomas to transition over to the light. What is it about a person that makes them someone's light?_

"That was long, but surprisingly accurate," Cora admitted, almost shocked to death from the small 'ding' of the bell that went off upon their arrival in the café. "I can't believe so many memories came back from him."

"_I_ can't believe that Keir, Vaughn and Dallas knew so much about Tho- I mean, Vice's past," Umeko shuddered, "Maleficent and Xemnas didn't even know all about him. They must have done some hardcore digging around."

Cora began rubbing her temples. "Wow. Now I really need coffee."

**Author's Note: That chapter was relatively boring, but I got through a lot more than I thought I would. I even managed to get an Apollyon's Report in! If you've been keeping track, you'll know that the group has found reports one, two, three, four and six. I'm thinking they'll find the fifth in the next chapter, but we'll see. Please review!**


	10. You Can't Save it All

**Author's Note: So, this chapter is going to contain some comic relief, and it's mainly going to consist of locking the three worlds to open the path to Aureole of the Dark. The next chapter will be mainly that, as well, but we'll see how things go. So, please read and review! And P.S., it's important to listen to this song while reading this chapter, especially the Destiny Island scenes, because it really sets the mood, and you'll see why.**

* * *

_**Chapter X:**_

_**You Can't Save it All**_

_"You could be the final straw that brings me back to earth_

_Ever-waiting airports full of the love that you deserve._

_Wishing I could find a way to wash away the past_

_Knowing that my heart will break_

_But at least the pain will last._"

'Love Song Requiem' by Trading Yesterday

* * *

**Sora's Gummi Ship**

"Okay," Sora called back to the group, "the worlds we all decided on were Olympus Coliseum, Agrabah, and Destiny Islands, right?" He was responded to by a chorus of 'yeah's and 'sure's, and one 'dude, I'm hungry', probably from Raelyn. "Umeko and Cora, you guys are going to go to Olympus Coliseum."

Cora smiled wryly where she was sitting and looked at Umeko, who had a similar look on her face. "We get to visit my old friend, Hades," Cora mentioned, looking up at the ceiling, satisfied at something she hadn't said yet.

Umeko chuckled, "This should be fun."

"Kairi and Raelyn, you two are going to Agrabah together?" Sora asked. He jerked the Gummi Ship to the right to avoid a practically runaway Heartless ship, charging at them like a maniac. Unfortunately, this wasn't new for them.

Kairi chirped, "Yep," and then looked at Raelyn, saying, "Roxas, Kasa and I all went to Agrabah a couple of years back, so Aladdin should remember us fine. Maybe he can help us get to the keyhole. I hope I remember where it is..." Kairi sighed and put her fist to her mouth, chewing on her knuckle, trying to remember.

Raelyn surprised her into almost biting her knuckle off when she slapped her on her back and told her, "Don't worry, you'll remember when you get there."

"We're going to Destiny Islands," Sora sighed, smiling.

"_Watch the road, Sora_!" Riku, who was handling the weaponry shouted at him. He suddenly snapped out of it and practically glued his eyes to the space in front of them, although it only took a moment for him to get bored and start spacing out again.

"Why are we driving and shooting?" Sora asked, "We always do."

"Because we're the only guys on the ship and it's only polite," Riku sighed, shooting down a particularly large ship heading straight towards them. It also helped that they had a considerable amount of experience.

Sora's eyes suddenly opened widely, "Riku, we've got a Gummi Ship full of girls. There's a lot more we could be doing than controlling the direction and arms," Sora smiled something odd, and Riku only rolled his eyes, sighing.

"Here it comes..." Riku muttered.

"Hey, Sora?" Raelyn asked cheerfully, walking into the cockpit.

"Yeah, Rae?" Sora asked, still smiling.

"Wanna hear a secret?" She bent down and put her lips near Sora's ear before shouting loud enough to deafen him, "_We can hear you back there!_" At that, she punched him on the head. Sora didn't know what to say to that, so he only frowned and gave a small 'ha, ha' as Riku laughed at him and Raelyn walked back into the main section of the ship.

"First stop," Riku said, his voice still shaking slightly from laughter, "Olympus Coliseum."

* * *

**Olympus Coliseum**

"It smells nice out here," Umeko noted, and Cora could only laugh at the observation as the Gummi Ship lifted off and left them at the, oddly hot, world. In front of them was the gigantic Coliseum, and waiting inside, no doubt, would be Hercules and Phil. Also, some trumpets were playing an odd medley as they looked up at the collosal building.

"Where's that music coming from?" Cora asked, raising an eyebrow. At that, the trumpets stopped. "That's better." **Author's Note: Just reflecting on my confusion as to why trumpets start playing whenever Sora and co. arrive at Olympus Coliseum. xD**

"Well, we'll be in and out of here, anyway," Umeko said, stretching her arm behind her head, "I remember exactly where the keyhole is. Partly because Sora reminded us last night." She laughed along with Cora and they walked forward, their arms creating links, a habit they had gotten into a long time ago.

Upon nearing the doors to the Coliseum, a small, half-goat man ran out of the building, shouting wildly. "Hercules! Hey, Herc!" he shouted, and then sighed. Seeing the two girls, his brow furrowed in worry. "Oh, great, the keyblade wielders are back. What is it this time? I'm a little busy," the satyr grunted.

Cora frowned. "We have to seal up the world again. The keyholes in the same place, right?" she asked him.

Phil put his hand to his small beard and stroked it thoughtfully, "Yeah," he said, though he hesitated, "came up a couple of days ago, but it looked bad so I made Herc push that big block in front of it. Looks a lot better now, very shiny."

Umeko sighed. "But we need to _seal_ it. Where's Hercules?"

"I don't know, kid, that's what I'm trying to figure out. Why don't you just push it off yourself? Sora, Donald, and Goofy could do it," the satyr huffed, putting his hands on his hips. Umeko for a moment was reminded of the Three Billy Goat's Gruff. Did Phil eat people that crossed the Coliseum?

"Because," Cora finally responded as Umeko contemplated this, "to do that, you need a trinity. To do _that_, you need three people that know how to perform magic. And you," she looked down at the half-goat, who was still glancing the area for Hercules, "don't know how to perform magic. We need Hercules."

"Just remember your karma, kid," Phil snapped at her, and walked away. "I'd check the Underworld if you're looking for Herc. He's been down there a lot lately fighting in the Underdome. It's been a little annoying, really..." The satyr stomped off and back into the Coliseum Lobby. He really was in a bad mood that day.

"Guess we're going to the Underdome," Cora grinned. At least there weren't any Heartless near the entrance. "Oh, Hades," she said in a small sing-song voice, causing Umeko to laugh as they turned on their heels and walked forward a little ways to make it to the stairs to the Underworld.

* * *

**Agrabah**

"This is _insane_," Kairi complained. Destiny Blade just wasn't working as well as it used to, but there were a lot of Fat Bandits covering the area, as well, so it couldn't be blamed solely on the keyblade. "It wasn't anywhere near this bad even when the Rhapsodies were invading the place!" she groaned.

Raelyn, however, was destroying the Shadows and Fat Bandits without a problem with her Staff of Snakes, "You know, the more you, Sora and Riku talk about these Rhapsodies, the more I sorta wish I could've been there when they still existed."

"Nooo, you don't," Kairi argued, but not before she was tripped by a Heartless. With a sweep of Destiny Blade, she hit it so hard that, had it not faded into darkness, the little Shadow's head would have popped off.

"Remember where the keyhole is now?" Raelyn asked her, getting a little peeved.

"Yeah," Kairi responded sheepishly, "but only from before Cora switched around all of the keyholes except for a few. I'm willing to bet that she changed the keyhole here. We just never came here to seal it up." She was blushing now; the last time they went there, it was just to exterminate the Rhapsodies.

"Then we should find that Alabooboo guy you were talking about," Raelyn sighed, destroying the last Heartless in the area, before looking at Kairi, who was sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily. "Dude, they were a few Heartless."

Kairi snapped her head towards her friend, "And you're an experienced castle mage whose magic was created to be strong against Heartless. I'm a girl with a giant key. Why can giant keys destroy Heartless?" she asked, "They're keys. _Keys_."

"We need to get you outta here," Raelyn sighed, walking up to the auburn-haired girl and helping her up. "But first, where can we find Aladdin?"

Kairi, who seemed to be over her small fit, responded, "The palace," she paused, "He's married to Princess Jasmine. I remember Sora, Riku and I were invited to the wedding a couple of years back." Raelyn nodded without another word and let Kairi ahead so she could show her the way to the Palace.

"I wonder if luxury's done anything to him," Raelyn noted aloud, destroying the Heartless along the way for Kairi.

Kairi frowned. "That's silly. This is Aladdin we're talking about," Kairi waved her off and let Destiny Blade disappear; Raelyn didn't seem to have a problem getting rid of the growing number of Heartless, and Kairi had to stay on the lookout for Aladdin.

It seemed like forever before they made it to the castle doors and the guards, remembering Kairi from the last time they were there, let her in along with Raelyn. The lobby was gigantic, but Aladdin was nowhere to be found. "So, Kairi..." Raelyn began, looking at the ceiling, "where is he?"

Kairi sighed. "We've got a whole palace to look in."

* * *

**Destiny Islands**

Sora could hardly believe it, even after he landed the Gummi Ship. He walked out, open-mouthed into Destiny Islands. They had landed on the play island, which seemed intensely green and lush in comparison to their home island, across from them. Half of the island was burned, charred to black, and the other half had vegetation left, but it was all dead. Buildings lay half-destroyed, all except one: the school.

"Doesn't that just figure," Sora murmured, trying to add some comedy to the situation, but his tone of voice showed that he knew there was nothing comical about the situation. Riku, not taking his eyes off of the island ahead of him, pushed Sora back at his chest and ran up to the shore, stopping when his shoes were just touching the incoming waves.

Riku stood there for a moment, looking at his home island, surveying it. He shook his head, his mouth wide open. "That couldn't have been a natural fire," he muttered, "it was done by a Heartless. Apollyon destroyed our world looking for Vice." The tide then came up further, soaking Riku's shoes and ankles full of salty water, but he did not budge.

"Riku..." Sora walked up to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder, which was quickly shrugged off.

"Sora, don't you get it?" Riku asked, "We're homeless. At least half of our island and our friends and family are dead. Aren't you worried about Selphie, Wakka or Tidus?" Riku's head snapped to the side along with Sora's as they heard a voice.

"Hey, you guys are alright!" came Wakka's voice, who seemed unexplainably happy. Sora and Riku were relieved to see Selphie and Tidus walking close behind them. "We came to the play island once the fire started. We've been hiding out here ever since.

"Did you see who started it?" Sora asked them as Selphie, Wakka and Tidus walked to their sides to look at the island again.

Selphie shook her head. "No," she admitted, "none of us did. If anyone did see who started the fire..." Selphie's high and usually enthusiastic voice faded to a whisper that only she could hear. It was no matter, Sora knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

"Then it was one of those Heartless," Tidus decided, nodding. He didn't know much about the Heartless past what he had learned during his stay in Traverse Town, but he knew enough about them to know that there were some Heartless with fire abilities, like the Red Nocturne or the Crimson Jazz. "What do they want with our island?"

"Thomas," Riku said, and the four others looked over at Riku, although Sora already knew what he was going to say. "Vice is a friend of ours that a man named Apollyon wants. He's the reason all of the worlds are darkening," Riku looked to the sky, "Apollyon's hoping to bring out his... alter ego. The dark side of him, named Thomas, so they could take his heart."

"Where's Thomas now?" Selphie asked.

"Vice," Riku corrected her, "and he's hiding somewhere."

"Maybe he is hiding on the island," Tidus suggested, "maybe that's why the school didn't burn down. We should check it out now that the fire's out." Riku nodded at that; it seemed like a good idea. Sora and Tidus took one boat, Riku and Selphie the other, and Wakka the last. They had long since memorized the currents and waves to their island and had made it to the shore, which also seemed deader than usual, in no time.

"We shouldn't have stayed at Radiant Garden last night," Riku began as he stepped out of the boat, helping Selpie out, "maybe we would've been able to prevent this," he sighed, and Sora put another reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Nobody could have predicted a fire, Riku," he tried to calm him down.

"We're _keyblade_ wielders, Sora, protectors of the worlds. We're supposed to anticipate _anything_."

"What if there was a fire on... Radiant Garden?" Wakka asked now, causing Riku to spin around to look at the taller man. "And what if you were here, and nobody was there to stop it? You can't save it all, Riku."

Riku opened his mouth to argue, but found that he could not. Instead, he put his hands in his pockets and nodded. He really wished Raelyn were there; she always knew how to cheer him up. Instead, he would just have to settle for his friends. "Let's go," he said, and they made their way towards the high school.

* * *

**Olympus Coliseum**

"Hercules!" Cora called, running up to him. Hercules spun around and smiled; he remembered her from numerous encounters, including Cora helping him out in the Coliseum over that year, one of the many things she got to do on her journey to find Kione. "Hey, Herc, what are you doing down here?" she asked.

Hercules grinned and stretched his overly-muscular arm behind his head. "I'm training for the final battle of the Underdome. It starts in about ten minutes and I'm allowed to have two companions. You two wanna join me?"

Umeko nodded first, "'Course," she said, summoning Shark Attack.

"She's a keyblade wielder, too?" Hercules asked, who didn't seem to quite get it at first.

"Yep," Cora said, nodding, "I know, there's a lot of us. We come in threes." Hercules laughed; he was one of the easiest of the other worlds to get along with. "Herc, we have a favor to ask of you. Could you move that big block in the Coliseum lobby?"

Hercules suddenly looked crestfallen. "If this is a message from Phil, tell him to stop changing his mind so often."

Cora shook her head, her brown hair flipping around a little bit. "No," she clarified, "we need to seal the keyhole and that block is... well... blocking it."

"Five minutes!" Pain called from the entrance to the Sea of the Dead.

Hercules looked troubled. "First, help me out in the final battle. Then, I'll move the block for you," he said, nodding.

"Okay," Cora smiled, "who's the final battle?"

"A man named Vincent Valentine. Sounds pretty whimpy to me, whaddya you guys think?" Hercules asked, this huge smile spread across his face which disappeared when he saw the look of worry on Umeko and Cora's.

"Vincent was too much for Keir last year," Cora mumbled, "he's going to be difficult to beat."

"Two minutes!" Panic called.

"Doesn't look like we have a choice if we want to seal up this world and open the path to Aureole of the Dark," Umeko said, and then looked towards Hercules, having no more excuses. "Let's go on the boat now and get this over with."

Hercules, slightly confused, nodded and turned on his heel towards the boat that Pain and Panic were gesturing at evilly. Cora and Umeko followed him, not too sure of what they were getting themselves into, but whatever it was, it would involve fighting Vincent Valentine until Hades was amused.

* * *

**Agrabah**

Kairi and Raelyn had to rub their eyes a couple of times to be sure that what they were seeing was real. They had scaled the palace at least twice by the time that they decided to leave it, and found Aladdin riding an elephant through the streets. "That's Aladdin, I take it?" Raelyn asked, a worried look on her face. Thankfully, the passing parade seemed to sweep by, leaving a piece of paper. "An Apollyon report," Raelyn gasped and began to read it, completely ignoring the instrumentals in the background.

_Apollyon's Fifth Report of Eight_

_Keir, Vaughn and Dallas. Those are the names of who I was created from, that I have known for a while. Finally, it seems as my memories return to me, I remember all three of them specifically and their journeys with Xemnas and Maleficent to have ultimate power by use of the five powerful jewels._

_Keir became a Heartless shortly after challenging Maleficent, but Vaughn and Dallas stayed the same. This is why they are, currently, safe in the world of Amber Falls. This report will be a short one, but I wanted to acknowledge in writing so I don't forget how important it is to find and destroy Vaughn and Dallas so they don't accidentally take their darkness away from me._

_This can wait, of course, until after I get a heart. That way, it will be doubly as hard for them to reclaim their darkness, and doubly as easy for me to destroy them both._

"Such a cheerful man, that Apollyon," Kairi murmured.

Suddenly, a man leading the parade, burst out in song. "Prince Ali, fabulous he! Ali Ababwa! Genuflect, show some respect!" he shouted, looking at Kairi and Raelyn. "Down on one knee!"

"Genie," Kairi sighed, shaking her head, "first of all, he's King Aladdin now, and second of all, I'm sure Jasmine's getting a little sick of your fake parades. She was a little nauseous after the first one, if I remember your story correctly."

The man in front frowned and changed back to a tall, blue man, laughing slightly. "Aw, Kairi, you don't have to ruin the fun. We just destroyed a bunch of Heartless and we're celebrating! Isn't that right, Al?"

Aladdin jumped off of the elephant, which then turned into the small monkey Abu. "Yeah, Genie," he confirmed, "there are a lot of them out lately. We were just waiting for you guys so you could seal the world."

"Well, we just destroyed a lot of Heartless too and we're not having a parade. Why don't we ever have a parade when we beat the bad guy?" Raelyn asked, crossing her arms over her chest, giving them a fake-pout.

Kairi laughed. "That's okay, just tell us where the keyhole is."

Aladdin bit his lip. "It's in the sandswept ruins. I suppose we should call Carpet over here-"

"OR," Genie began in such a loud boom that Kairi backed up a couple of paces, looking in both directions. Instead of Genie standing in front of them, there was a small, blue helicopter. "I could give you a lift!" he suggested.

"Just... don't shout again," Kairi laughed nervously, and the three of them stepped inside.

* * *

**Destiny Islands**

"The school," Riku sighed. It wasn't that he wasn't used to that school; unlike Cora and Umeko, him, Sora and Kairi went back to school each year, specifically because they still had parents to tell them that they had to, and they didn't have jobs in castles of any sort or with a kind of monarchy.

As they stepped inside, they realized that the interior of the high school looked quite a bit like the island. Half of it was burned up and charred, papers were strewn about the hallways, posters fallen from the walls, and so much more. "The high school was burned from the inside. No wonder it looks okay from outside." Selphie pointed out.

"Why would that Apollyon think that Vice was hiding in the high school?" Tidus asked.

"Wish I could tell you," Sora began, and they continued to walk through the school. It didn't seem like long before they found the Heartless that had created the fire, which Sora remembered from one of his adventures in Wonderland; the Trickmaster, holding two lit torches. "This shouldn't be a problem," Sora called to his friends, "He wasn't that difficult even when I wasn't that experienced. Leave it to Riku and I."

The Trickmaster almost seemed to be grinning as suddenly, the flame atop of his torches glowed a blue, and then white, the hottest flame they had ever seen. "Maybe it will be a little harder," Riku suggested pessimistically, and just barely managed to avoid a swoop of one of his torches. "This should be _fun_."

**Author's Note: I tried to make it as eventful as possible, but the next chapter is a pretty important one. And by the way, I've decided for sure that I'm going to start another Kingdom Hearts fanfiction, unrelated to this one, on a different account. I've already got the account set up and I've begun the first chapter, and I'll say the name of the new account on the last chapter of this fanfiction. Please review!**


	11. Sevar's Fire

**Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter and the next are short, but I'm extremely excited to get to chapter thirteen. I'll try and make this as decent as I can. It may be a little dragged on, but on the bright side, I've got a small bit of comic relief in store for this chapter. I should be done with this story in no time, considering it ends on chapter fifteen/epilogue chapter sixteen. Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer:**

**Raelyn- Oh, it's my turn to do the disclaimer now? Considering Lesser doesn't let me do **_**anything**_**!**

**Lesser- Hey, hey! I'm giving you some pretty interesting parts in this chapter!**

**Kairi- And a misfortune for me. -glare-**

**Lesser- Aheh... heh... **_**I'll**_** do the disclaimer. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Stolen by Dashboard Confessional. I don't even own my OCs or plot because I don't have them copyrighted, but I'd like it very much if you didn't steal them. :3**

* * *

_**Chapter XI:**_

_**Sevar's Fire**_

"_We watch the season pull up it's own stakes_

_And catch the last weekend of the last week._

_Before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced_

_Another sun-soaked season fades away._

_You have stolen my heart, you have stolen my heart._

_Invitation only, grand farewells._

_Crush the best one of the best ones._

_Clear liquor and cloudy-eyed_

_Too early to say goodnight._"

'Stolen' by Dashboard Confessional

* * *

**Olympus Coliseum**

The Underdome smelled something horrible, like the stench of death and rot. Cora crinkled her nose immediately upon arriving inside of the arena, but straightened up when she found who was standing in front of herself, Umeko and Hercules: Vincent Valentine. Something told her that she should have guessed that he'd participate in the Cups.

"You're going down, Vincent Valentine!" Hercules called out, who didn't know any better. Meanwhile, sitting in the highest point of the stands, Hades was watching. He seemed to smile upon Hercules's arrival, positive that Valentine would kill him, but his smile quickly inched away into a frown and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat when he saw Cora.

Cora immediately noticed Hades and waved at him from down in the arena. Hades looked away, playing nervously with his blue fiery hair. Small demons and other unidentifiable creatures had gathered around the arena and were sitting in the stands, eagerly awaiting the fight that would begin once Hades allowed them to.

"Are you two pumped?" Hercules asked Cora and Umeko.

Umeko gave Hercules a weak smile, "Not as pumped as you are, Herc."

"Final battle!" Hades called from the stands, "Go!"

Vincent Valentine didn't hesitate at all. In fact, he pulled out Death Penalty and immediately began to shoot at them. Hercules blocked the bullets from reaching Cora and Umeko, and the two of them, for the first time, looked at each other and realized how dangerous it would be.

"In case you haven't noticed," Umeko said to Cora, "if we get shot, we die."

"Then there's only one thing we can do," Cora said, making her way out from behind Hercules.

"What's that?" Umeko asked, breathing heavily still from shock.

"Don't get shot." Cora ran out from behind Hercules and up to Vincent to thrash at him with her keyblade.

"Cora!" Umeko hissed, shaking her head. "Cora, that's not the only thing he can do!"

And Umeko was right. Cora wanted to slap herself for not thinking about that, but the damage was done. Right in front of her, Vincent began to morph into something that none of them could make out until they realized that he resembled some sort of a wingèd demon. His face was blue-ish, his eyes glowing, and his wings large and powerful. **Author's Note: Vincent's Chaos form; I really don't know how else to describe it.**

"That's unfortunate," Cora mumbled, sidestepping an attack from the demon. Thankfully, just as Cora avoided the attack, Hercules ran up to Chaos and punched him in the stomach. Just as Vincent/Chaos sneered in a frightening way, Umeko, Cora and even Hercules were able to recognize that the fight wouldn't be all that easy.

* * *

**Agrabah**

"Here we are!" Genie called out, justa s they hit the ground of the Sandswept Ruins. As Aladdin, Kairi and Raelyn stepped out and onto the ground, Genie immediately changed back and frowned. "Looks just as drab as ever in here." He shifted himself ot have bouncy hair, thick-rimmed glasses and a notepad with a pencil, like an interior designer, "I wonder how we can fix this place up."

Raelyn ignored him. "How are we supposed to find the keyhole in all of this?" Raelyn complained, and Aladdin shook his head. He never explored the Sandswept Ruins from the ground before; he was always on Genie. Not to mention since it was destroyed last, everything else lay in heaps.

"It was just Iago who told me it was in here," Aladdin answered him.

Kairi groaned. "Don't tell me that you take anything Iago says for a grain of salt, Aladdin.""Hey, Iago's changed," Aladdin said, putting up his hands in a surrender. At that, Abu crawled out from the chest of his shirt and onto his shoulder contentedly, but he must have seen something in the distance, because he began to freak out. Abu hopped off of Aladdin's shoulder and began dashing forward towards the horizon. "Abu!" Aladdin shouted.

"No worries, Al," Genie shifted into Pumbaa, "Hakuna matata." He then shifted into what looked like a bounty hunter, with the rifle and hat, the entire shot, and said, "I'll catch the little bugger for you." Genie then rushed forward as well, ignoring Aladdin's calls for him.

"I guess Abu wasn't a huge loss," Raelyn began, shifting her feet where she stood, "but we could have used Genie to... I don't know... fly back to Agrabah?" She sighed and stuffed her hands into her jeans pockets, shaking her head.

"I think we should just look around, and we can catch up with Genie and Abu later," Kairi said, nodding, and the other two followed her. **Author's Note: How awesome would it be to be able to play straight up as Kairi? Or Raelyn, to be honest. I just thought of that, sorry!**

It wasn't long before they had made it to one tower in particular that was still standing. "Maybe it's inside of here somewhere," Aladdin suggested, and Kairi nodded.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

"I was just thinking about how hungry I was," Raelyn laughed a little, though they could tell, very unlike herself, Raelyn was a bit nervous. Then again, who wouldn't be nervous about walking in the ruins of a great city? It was obviously a little frightening. The three of them walked in, and Raelyn mentioned conversationally, "I wonder if this is anything like Apollyon's tower. I guess we'll find out, though, won't we?"

"I don't know about that," Kairi said, putting her hand to her chin and stepping forward into the small, narrow tower, "Something tells me that Apollyon's tower would be _full_ of-" Suddenly, Kairi was swept off her feet and in some sort of a net close to the ceiling of the tower. "Booby traps," she finished, squirming.

"Stay still, I'll go get Genie!" Aladdin called, and ran out of the tower.

After a moment in silence, Kairi spoke, "He's not coming back, is he?"

Raelyn shook her head. "Probably not. Is the keyhole anywhere up there?"

Kairi, after glancing around the walls around her, smiled. "Hey, looks like it!" She pulled out Destiny Blade and pointed it at the key-shaped window. In a flash, the world was sealed, and the Heartless she saw outside of the window all disappeared. "Phew," she sighed. "Now, I just need to get down from here..." she readied her keyblade.

"Oh no, there's no way I'm catching you," Raelyn shook her head violently.

"Oh, come on, I'm only about 120 pounds. Don't you benchpress?"

This argument went on for quite a while.

* * *

**Destiny Islands**

The Trickmaster did, in fact Igor, have many tricks up his sleeve. Not only was he swinging this new white fire like a lasso, but he was throwing the torches like boomerangs, searing quite a bit of Riku and Sora's clothing, but luckily enough, they managed to stop it from burning their skin.

"Go for the head!" Selphie shouted to Riku, who just jumped up.

"This is annoying me," Riku muttered.

"Riku, this thing destroyed our home," Sora mentioned as they backed up, and then looked over at Riku. "Eternal session?"

"Eternal session."

Sora and Riku jumped up to the Trickmaster's head and began to brutally attack it before they both threw Ultima Weapon and way to Dawn up. In beams of light, the two keyblades began to react, sending the Trickmaster backwards and to the floor, it fading into the darkness. The two boys caught their weapons and pounded fists.

"That was _awesome_!" Tidus shouted, laughing with Wakka and Selphie.

"Yeah, it was," Riku agreed, smiling. "Now to find Vice. I guess there's no reason in sealing this place up if there's nobody to protect. You three'll be safe on the play island, right?" Riku asked. **Author's Note: Watch me completely forget about these poor three during the epilogue, and they're forever bound to the Destiny Islands play island. xD**

"Sure," Selphie said, nodding.

"Hey, man, I think I saw something," Wakka gasped, looking down the hallway of the school near the locker rooms, where a flash of red and black seemed to zip past them, most definitely in the form of a human.

"That's gotta be..." Sora began, his eyes widening. Riku seemed to be thinking the same thing as him.

"Apollyon." Without another word, the five of them all bounded forward, Selphie being the only one of the other three that could quite keep up with them. Tidus and Wakka were fast, sure, but only for a short amount of time.

"He went that way!" Sora shouted, turning to the left as they entered the hallway with the bathrooms. Even with most of it burned, that hallway still smelled like crap and a weak form of HCl. **Author's Note: For those of you that don't know, when I'm talking about a weak hydrochloric acid, I'm talking about gastric acid. Something tells me that I'll be ready for my first day of school tomorrow. xD**

Another blur, making a right this time and up some stairs. "He's headed for the roof," Wakka called to them, and Riku nodded. In a burst of energy, he ran in front of the others, and zipped up the ladder towards the roof.

Sevar had been waiting for quite some time. He knew that Sora and Riku weren't the fastest people in the world, but he also didn't expect them to be quite so slow. Still, it was the perfect diversion. As long as they were positive that he was the enemy and that he was the one that set the island on fire, they wouldn't suspect him to be Vice.

"Are you Apollyon?" Sora called as they made it to the top. The three behind him, the ones that Sevar didn't recognize, seemed hesitant about walking up to the top of the roof. Sevar made no movement; they thought he was Apollyon? He could be any suspicious man wearing a ribbon over his face and a hat over his head, anyway.

"We're going to stop you before you get Vice's heart!" Riku exclaimed now, showing many Sora-like qualities as he walked in front of his friend and pointed Way to Dawn threateningly at Sevar. Sevar only laughed.

"Are you, now?" he asked in a voice slightly deeper than his own to throw them off.

"Fight us!" Sora shouted now, rushing towards him with Ultima Weapon. Vice sidestepped it, and thought to himself, _If I'm to attack Apollyon tomorrow, they should at least go on thinking that I'm their enemy so they're led in the wrong direction. I told them all in the letter to stay out of this..._

Sevar cried out in a moment as he was hit in the back with Ultima weapon, but backed off. He couldn't fight them back, not with the chakrams. He would have to use magic, and he knew the perfect magic to use. "Firaga!" he called, and sent the already charred Sora backwards slightly, almost off the roof. Sora managed to catch the edge of it and pull himself up, but just as Sevar looked back, Riku grabbed him by the neck.

"You're not getting away that easily, Apollyon," Riku informed him. Sevar elbowed him in the back and, without realizing it, summoned weapons. Two curved swords appeared in his hands in a flurry of flame, surprising Sevar himself. _This must be the weapon of Vice... my separate entity from Axel_. This had to be undeniable proof that he was completely separate from Axel. He would have to check the mirror room later. **Author's Note: I really wanted to type 'undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers!' If you remember that, I love you.**

"He's got swords, Sora," Riku coughed out, backing up. Sora rushed at him from behind, and Sevar, as if he was a natural with his curved swords, guarded himself by making them into an X in front of him. For the longest time, he only blocked Ultima and Way to Dawn's attacks, which began to both tire out and confuse Sora and Riku.

"Why won't you fight?" Sora asked, annoyed.

Sevar, realizing he was running out of time and that Sora and Riku weren't about to attack again, backed up a few paces. Kione had appeared and was hiding on a taller roof behind them. She created a portal to step through, obviously thinking that Sevar had lost. "The last place you think he is," Sevar began, and then turned around to walk into the portal, "he is."

Riku and Sora only looked at each other for the next few moments before they decided to head back. They believed that they had met Apollyon, and he wasn't _fighting _them. Nothing made sense, but for sure, they needed to pick up the others by now.

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry that this was rushed and shortened, and I'm going to leave it up to your guys' imaginations as to how Cora, Umeko and Hercules beat Vincent, because at the next chapter they're going to be in Radiant Garden first thing. I'm so sorry, but if I kept going, things would get dragged out and annoying. Dx Review please!**


	12. Marionette

**Author's Note: Per Catharsis's request, I'll add a little bit of the fight, but it's gonna suck sort of royally. xD I'll have them right after they picked up Cora and Umeko and sealed the keyhole, as a flashback. Aside from that, not much of an Author's Note today, just enjoy the chapter! Please read and review!**

* * *

_**Chapter XII:**_

_**Marionette**_

"_Everybody wants to join the club_

_Once you join the club, the innocence is gone._

_Everybody wants to be the bomb_

_But once you are the bomb, the innocence is gone._"

'Evening Wear' by Mindless Self Indulgence

* * *

**Aureole of the Dark**

Night was spreading across the last world that was still made up of half light. Sevar sat on his bed, his head in his hands, thinking. What would become of him if Sora and Riku thought that he was Apollyon? Surely they would tell Cora and the others, but when they actually found Apollyon, would they think nothing of him?

"None of that matters," he murmured to himself. He already had the time set for when he planned on launching an attack on Apollyon, ending the madness once and for all, and Kione, if necessary. "Tomorrow." He had also planned on retrieving Blaise and Sienna's free wills, but Kione had once again hidden them.

Suddenly, Sevar heard a mumbling from the room next to his. That was Sienna's, wasn't it? Closely, closely he pressed his ear to the wall and listened.

In the other room, Blaise had walked into Sienna's room, smiling sadly. "No luck in finding them," he muttered to the girl. "Kione put a spell on them so that she can activate them without touching them. She hid them somewhere." Sienna gave a weak grin back and motioned for the boy to sit next to her on the bed. These meetings between them were becoming more and more frequent by the day- it was just nice to know that someone else was in your situation.

"Soon enough," Sienna said optimistically.

Blaise laughed and sat down next to her. "This is why I joined football. Everything was cut and dry in that. Keyblade wielding? Not quite so much." The two of them laughed again. Sienna had dated a few football players in her time- none of that seemed to matter anymore. She was sure it was the same with Blaise. **Author's Note: ...Not the dating football players thing. xD**

"What was it like?" Sienna whispered, "Being dead?"

Blaise's eyes widened- he probably wasn't sure about how to answer that question. "When you're alive, I guess... you forget all about it. It feels like I just blacked out and woke up. If there is anything out there after this," he looked up at the glass ceiling which reflected the dusky sky, "maybe it's just something you can remember when you're up there. Like a secret."

Sienna nodded. "Nothing like the darkness."

Blaise turned towards her. "My anti-form was a wimp," Blaise laughed, "I never knew the darkness."

Sienna's sad smile turned into a struggling frown. "Everlasting blackness. Even as a Heartless, when you could run around and I could... for some reason... think... everything's darker. Everyone looked like a shadow to me, and their hearts glowing through everything, so bright it almost hurt my eyes. The light's definitely... something you take for granted." She laughed again. Blaise couldn't help but to notice how much she differed from the group's stories of her; the darkness can really change a person.

"We're both in the light now," Blaise said, putting his hand on top of Sienna's shocking them back. He moved to pull it away, but Sienna reached out and grabbed his again.

Sienna, smiling now, nodded. "You're right," she muttered, "and we can't give up."

* * *

**Sora's Gummi Ship**

Cora smiled; it was a brilliant fight, really. She remembered it vividly, of course she would, as it had only happened an hour or so before. After Vincent Valentine had shifted into Chaos, Hercules had made the mistake of punching him in the stomach. Only moments after, Vincent had used a move called Chaos Saber and knocked Hercules out of almost the entire fight- the move itself, however, was insanely impressive.

Vincent Valentine had turned towards Cora and Umeko, who looked at each other, knowing how to avoid the attack now. Chaos Saber was used again, but Umeko and Cora had crossed each other in an X like fashion and Cora attacked from one side as Umeko got the other. When Chaos had shaken them off, he seemed to be preparing for a stronger move.

"You know what we haven't tried yet?" Cora asked, gasping as they both retreated. Hercules was just standing up from the Chaos Saber that he had endured.

"Not a clue," Umeko gasped, looking around at the crowd. The devils and imps were getting restless, but extremely entertained by the fight. Hades seemed extremely pleased that Vincent Valentine had managed to knock Hercules out, but the fact that he was slowly returning to his consciousness made Hades's flaming hair turn red.

"Eternal session," Cora said, and Chaos's attack seemed to be growing in power.

"Thiink we can do it?" Umeko asked.

"Now's when we find out, I guess," Cora said, running up to go and attack Vincent with Umeko. Just as he was letting out an attack that seemed to put a skull underneath them, Stan Slam. Just as it was about to do its damage, Shark Attack began to react with Ether Essence, a light just as strong as that of the reaction between Ultima and Way to Dawn. As the beam hit Chaos, it interrupted his attack slightly and sent him backwards, though Cora seemed badly beat up by his half-formed attack, sending her to the ground.

In the meantime, Hercules had gotten up and sent a golden wave of godly power towards Vincent, hurting him only enough that his Chaos form faded, and he fell to the ground, gasping. Hercules had won the cup. Even though Cora was hurt, she pushed herself up and healed herself with a Curaga before they left to seal the world.

"What are you so smiley about?" Raelyn asked Cora, grinning back at her.

"Ah," Cora mumbled, not realizing she had gone off thinking about that miraculous fight, "nothing, Rae. Are we almost there?" Cora called up to the boys in the cockpit.

"Getting there," Sora shouted back.

"I can't believe they saw Apollyon," Kairi smiled, still surprised, "Finally. And after a good night's sleep at Radiant Garden, we can go to Aureole of the Dark. Everything's coming together." Kairi seemed pretty optimistic for a girl who had gotten stuck in a booby trap in a tower in the sandswept ruins. After a while, she decided to just cut the rope and Raelyn had caught her. They were lucky enough to be able to telephone Sora and tell him that their transportation to Agrabah had abandoned them for a monkey.

"And it's just the rest we need," Umeko nodded, "and then, _I'm_ going to beat Apollyon single-handedly as you all gape at my amazement." For a moment, Cora thought she was going to flex and kiss her biceps.

"Will we bow, too?" Cora asked, and Umeko punched her lightly on the shoulder.

"Prepare for landing!" Riku called, and they all strapped on their buckles. The intense landing of the ship didn't even faze them anymore, they realized. Once they touched ground by the Radiant Garden, they were happy to see that most of it had been kept in decent shape. Even Heartless needed rest, it seemed. **Author's Note: If only that were true in the games. Dx**

They all walked off, their legs begging them for some rest. Of course, they found their places back in the Radiant Garden Castle and almost immediately drifted to sleep. The rest of the night passed in a blur.

When everyone woke up the next day, however, Umeko was the first one downstairs, followed soon after by Cora. Umeko was pacing the kitchen, playing with the small metal object on her ring finger. She seemed surprised and slightly embarrassed when Cora walked down, yawning and watching her.

"Thinkin' about Coy?" Cora asked.

Umeko gave her a sad smile. "You know me too well."

"I should," Cora smiled, "after knowing you for twelve years."

"Hm. I guess so," Umeko laughed again. She seemed entirely tired, though she was dressed and ready to leave. Maybe she hadn't gotten any sleep the last night; Umeko had been known to have Sienna-like insomnia whenever it came to a big battle being the next day. At least, they would like to think it was a battle. If they thought 'asking Apollyon nicely not to darken the worlds' would work, they would have tried that long ago.

"Don't worry," Cora said, waving her off, "Coy's fine. He's a prince, after all, he's trained to work through hard situations, right?"

Umeko smiled, blushing slightly. "Yeah. You're right. I just miss him. But I'm sure he's doing alright."

* * *

**Eventide Mountains**

Seven dogs were running amok int he Eventide Mountains royal house. Two of them in particular were practically eating each other. It was very evident in their eyes that they missed their 'Princess Umeko', and Coy was slowly losing touch with his dogs.

"Don't eat each other, please..." Coy moaned, stumbling out of bed. This had become a nightly thing. He pulled the two dogs away from each other. "Umeko'll be back any minute now..." Coy slowly fell asleep in between the two dogs. For a moment, they looked at each other confusedly, and then back at Coy, and decided to eat him instead. **Author's Note: I'm totally kidding. xDD**

Coy, realizing he had fallen asleep, woke up in the middle of a Dog's Civil War. He was most definitely not doing alright.

**Author's Note: And that, folks, is what happens when Umeko leaves her fiancé alone with his seven dogs.**

* * *

**Radiant Garden**

Raelyn seemed surprised as she walked in on the two girls, her emerald green eyes open in shock. "Oh... great, you two're up already!" she beamed, "That's good, dudes, because... Sienna's outside with Origins of Nothing ready and she says she wants to kill us. Thought you guys might want to know."

Cora and Umeko looked at each other nervously for a moment before summoning Ether Essence and Shark Attack. It only took moments for Sora, Riku and Kairi to rush back downstairs with their keyblades in hand. As they walked outside they did, in fact, find Sienna wielding Origins of Nothing. Her eyes were clouded over; no doubt her free will had been stolen.

"Sienna, snap out of it!" Umeko called, but Sienna did not respond.

"We can't hurt her," Sora muttered, who had grown just as close to Sienna as the others those three years before. Riku, Kairi and Umeko seemed equally reluctant. Cora did, as well, despite her never being good friends with Sienna; just knowing that she was important to her _friends_ meant she was important, as well.

Raelyn, however, sneered. "If you guys won't attack her, I will!" The girl called her Staff of Snakes and rushed foward, only to be blocked almost immediately by Sienna. "Thundaga!" Raelyn shouted, just missing her friends by an inch, but attacking Sienna alright.

"Why is she even here?" Umeko asked.

"Maybe Kione knows that we're on our way. If she's anything like Cora, deductive reasoning is her strong point." Sora suggested. There was nothing they could do once Raelyn started fighting, because she would never, ever stop. She had the kind of determination that every keyblade wielder wished that he or she had.

"Why... won't... you... just... _die_?" Raelyn shouted, attacking Sienna. With every attack, Sienna would block. With every attack Sienna delt to Raelyn, she would block, as well. They were evenly matched, or so it seemed.

Sienna finally managed to get a hit on Raelyn, knocking her to the ground. Raelyn came to a realization; she should stick with magic and forget about the contact attacks. Sienna, still standing, walked over to the fallen Raelyn and asked quietly, "Where is Thomas?"

"You still don't know?" Raelyn coughed, "And you're still going after him? You have some serious issues, my friend." Raelyn kicked herself up and shouted before Sienna got the chance to attack, "Blizzara!"

It seemed that Sienna would freeze on the spot, but she pushed herself out of it. Mimicking a move that many keyblade wielders had stolen from Riku, she flung Origins of Nothing like a boomerang, but unlike the others, it became covered in Dark and Pearl magic, rushing towards Raelyn. Raelyn got no chance to avoid it, and she was thrown back fifteen feet. In her stomach lay a gigantic, bleeding gash.

"Raelyn!" Riku shouted, when she wouldn't get up, and rushed towards her. "How many times do I have to tell you to be careful?" he muttered to her, rummaging through his pockets for potions. Nothing seemed to be doing the trick.

Raelyn managed a throaty laugh. "You were never this... protective before, Riku."

Riku was determined not to let the color show in his cheeks. She was just so _cute_. "Well, you were never this reckless before," Riku argued.

Raelyn laughed again. "I beg to differ." Shortly after the laugh however, she hissed as another Potion hit her stomach. Still wasn't doing any good. Everyone's attention turned back to Sienna, whose eyes seemed to be glued to the scene in front of her. She shook her head and put her left hand on her head as if gripping it, shaking it slightly. She stumbled and began to fell backwards.

"Sienna!" Sora shouted, and rushed up to catch her, but before he could get to her, the ground beneath her turned into black darkness and she disappeared beneath the portal.

"Sora, we have to get Raelyn to Aerith. Now!" Riku had shouted, and Sora was forced to pull his eyes away from the ground in which Sienna had just disappeared under. There was no hope. Unless they could find her and Blaise's free wills, then they would be forced to fight for Kione and Apollyon forever.

* * *

**Merlin's House**

"Not another one," Aerith murmured lightly, running her hand through her long, chocolate brown hair. Roxas and Naminé seemed to be living the life of luxury, sitting down and watching television at all times.

"Our first week of being Somebodies," Roxas complained, however, "and we're stuck here injured."

Roxas and Naminé listened with great interest as Sora, Riku, Cora, Umeko and Kairi told their stories to them, about how Destiny Islands was mostly burned up when they saw it, about the sandswept ruins, the fight with Vincent Valentine and Sienna's arrival. Roxas seemed particularly concerned.

"Sora," he said, catching his former Somebody's attention, "I don't care what it takes, but you have to find Sienna and Blaise's free wills and give it to them. That way..." his voice trailed off, "Just promise me that."

"That was the plan all along," Umeko smiled at him, trying to give him some reassurance.

Sora nodded. "I promise."

"Raelyn will have to stay here with Roxas and Naminé. Hopefully you five... along with Dallas and Vaughn will have no problem beating Apollyon. I almost forgot," Aerith said, rummaging through her pocket. She pulled out a folded piece of paper. "It's his seventh report."

"That means we have one left," Sora said, his eyes widening. He took the paper like a child would take candy and opened it feverishly, reading the handwritten report.

_Apollyon's Seventh Report of Eight_

_I can feel this question burning through my own mind and through the mind of Kione, as well. Our connection, after all, has become strong enough. Just the way she looks at me whenever we're alone, that questioning, saddening look... I can tell she is thinking it._

_Am I really evil?_

_Humans seem to believe that the line between good and evil is solid and defined, with lack of a grey area. People like me, people looking for hearts, we are considered evil because of the lengths we will go to to obtain those hearts._

_What would anyone else do if they were as heartless as a Nobody?_

_The truth is, the line between good and evil is not defined. It's blurred, it barely exists at all. In one fell swoop, you can't cross the line between good and evil. There is not a set amount of things 'wrong' you can do to be considered evil. What is it that makes you evil? Murder? Thievery? Dislike for many people?_

_The day someone may answer that question for me is the day my life will be complete._

_But still, every answer, every explanation just brings me back to that same question._

_Am I really evil?_

"Cryptic," Cora mumbled.

Kairi began chewing on her knuckle. "I don't want to think about this report anymore," she said, taking it from Sora. She folded it up again and put it in her zipper questions. That was it- no more questions. Kairi had ways of ending a conversation. "We have to be on our way to Amber Pearls to pick up Dallas and Vaughn. I already phoned them last night and told them all about what's going on."

Riku smiled. "Are they anything near ready to fight... in a sense... themselves?"

"I wanna say no," Cora said, but paused and reflected a moment before she finished, "but Keir, Vaughn and Dallas always had ways of surprising us in the past, didn't they?" At that, the group around them smiled, as if sharing a secret between them all.

**Author's Note: And there it ends. So, I'm extremely excited to write chapter thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, because those are the big chapters. Of course, sixteen is just the epilogue. I thought you all would like that little section with Eventide Mountains. I figured we could use a bit of comic relief in here. Please review!**


	13. Who Are You, Really?

**Author's Note: I forgot to mention in my last chapter, but I survived my first day of school! Most of my teachers seem pretty cool, except my English teacher who scares me... but then again, all English teachers are eccentric in their own way. But it was a pretty good day, otherwise. Well, this is the chapter I've been waiting for! I highly recommend listening to Kandyland by Brokencyde, if you can find it on youtube or whatever. It helps. Please review!**

* * *

_**Chapter XIII:**_

_**Who Are You, Really?**_

"_And these broken wings, they make you taste so sweet._

_Candy canes and kisses when I fall asleep._

_Rainbows and wishes, you take me away._

_To another place, so far away._"

'Kandyland' by Brokencyde

* * *

**Aureole of the Dark**

"Sienna!" Blaise shouted, running up to her as Kione brought her back from Radiant Garden. Kione had a look on her face that showed Sienna had failed, but it was sort of obvious considering the condition Sienna was in. She was cut in many places, and breathing shallowly. "Cura," Blaise muttered after summoning One Dream. It only took moments for Sienna's cuts to heal up. She blinked a couple of times and looked up at Blaise.

"Thanks," she said quietly, "any clue what I did?"

Blaise, to her surprise, was looking at her harshly. His eyes were glinting with something. Tears? No way, Blaise never cried. They couldn't be. He placed her on her bed. "We can't live like this," he decided immediately, "leaving, coming back near death and not even knowing what we did to make us almost die."

"We don't have a choice," Sienna reminded him, "not until we find our free wills."

"I know, I know..." Blaise shook his head, sighing. "But I also know Sora. And I know that he'll stop at nothing to help his friends. If we can't find our free will, he can. Any of them can. Except maybe Dolan, but I don't think he's involved in this at all."

Sienna laughed weakly. She was still worn out from the battle... whatever that battle might have been. Blaise finally seemed to give up as he sat next to her on the bed. He opened his mouth to talk again, but he heard another voice, a familiar one. Cora's? No, there was something a bit different about this one. Kione.

"Our sources tell us that they're heading for this world next," came Kione's voice at Sevar's room. "Intercept them at Amber Pearls. I, of course, have to send you there with the dark portals because Apollyon doesn't know how to cut me a break and relies too heavily on flattery..." Kione seemed to mutter darkly, before she finished with, "Understood?"

There seemed to be hesitating in Vice's voice. "Why does he want me to go?"

"Sienna and Blaise have been defeated at least once already. They're both weak. We need them here later to guard the castle in case of failure on your part." Kione stopped herself, there was a silence between them. "Of course, I already know that you're going to fail."

"What do you mean by that?" came Sevar's voice. By then, Blaise and Sienna had already gone to look through the opening in the door, the crack of it. Kione was standing and Sevar sitting on his bed. Neither of them seemed too pleased to be there.

Kione raised an eyebrow at him. "Despite the look of it and previous facts you might have heard, I'm not stupid." She handed him a glimmering object of some sort with a small crack down the middle. A locket? "Thomas."

Sevar's eyes opened widely, of course, they could only see one. This was no surprise for Sienna or Blaise, as Sienna had seen his true nature in the mirror room and told Blaise about it, but it was more of a shock for Sevar than anything, that Kione was able to figure this out. "Thomas," she said more quietly, "my Somebody's in love with you, isn't she?"

Sevar hesitated. "I don't know," was all he responded.

Kione put a hand to her heart. "I'm a Nobody. I don't feel. I remember feelings that my Somebody had. How I react from them, how I predict them. I don't feel them. But when I'm around you, I do feel something. I feel and emptiness in my chest." She took her hand away and looked at him, whispering something quietly that sounded like, "I'll keep your secret for one night only."

Vice nodded. "One night is all I need." Kione motioned for him to go through a portal she created, and he stepped through.

* * *

**Amber Pearls**

"I really should have visited more when I was gone," Cora breathed, gazing upon the world. It had become more beautiful than when she had last seen it around seven months ago. The amber mountains behind the rows of houses glimmered under the morning sun, and the water glinted with their reflections. Kids played happily in the waters, parents watching over them. It smelled like Amber Heights, Cora could tell now. Maybe she had lost that smell somewhere along her journeys.

A small Shadow appeared, but just as Umeko summoned Shark Attack to defeat it for the group, a defensive system, one that seemed stronger than the one at Radiant Garden, destroyed it immediately. Wait a second; the _sun_ was out.

"Guys, the sun's out here," Kairi pointed out. None of the others seemed to notice it before, but they did, and their eyes were wide open.

"No way!" Riku said, with real enthusiasm. They could all imagine Raelyn's reaction had she actually been there with them instead of getting nursed back to health with the others. "Apollyon must have missed this one."

"It's no wonder there are barely any Heartless out here." Umeko sighed, smiling; it had been so long since any of them had seen the sun. If they made it to Aureole of the Dark before nighttime, they would see it again, of course. "So, where are Vaughn and Dallas?" Umeko asked, and looked towards Cora.

Cora laughed; it was funny that, just because Cora was science smart, everyone expected her to always have the answers. "We know that Vaughn's running that flower shop. As for Dallas, I'd suspect he's somewhere in the castle."

"A flower shop run by Vaughn shouldn't be too hard to pick out," Umeko decided, putting her hand to her chin. As Cora, Umeko, Sora, Riku and Kairi all walked through the world, Sora and Umeko mostly fought for dominance over the group, **Author's Note: My God that sounds dirty. **while in the meantime, Riku, Cora and Kairi conversed in the back.

"Over there," Sora pointed out when they finally made it to a pink shop called "Vaughn's HxC Flower Shoppe". Umeko stifled a giggle and the five of them walked inside. Vaughn was standing there, surely, with an excited smile on his face at the sight of them that might have held some concern. He had cut his hair, but only a trim, so his hair no longer had oddly colored ends, but straight red. His eyes were noticeably a lighter shade of gray than they had been when they first fought him.

"Hey, Vaughn," Cora was the one to say, walking up to him first. She had been on best terms with him and Dallas as she had been the only one to frequently visit Amber Pearls before her seven-month disappearance.

"Cora," he said, giving her a hug. **Author's Note: Okay, imagine your old enemy, the one that scared the leader of your group the most, giving you a hug in a flower shop. That's pretty boss. xD** "I should either be excited that you... five are taking me to help you out, or..." He raised an eyebrow as they pulled away from the hug, "worried that Vice isn't with you. What happened?"

"You left out that Vice went away?" Cora asked Kairi, who put up her hands in a surrender.

"Oops?" was all Kairi said before the awkward silence and she finished, "He left shortly after we learned that Apollyon was after him. We haven't seen him since. But we're pretty sure that if we defeat Apollyon and Kione things'll just... fall into place?"

Vaughn laughed to himself before calling upon Lethal Valentine, scaring a small boy in the shop to the point of him almost crapping his pants, "Alright, let's go kill some Apollyon up in that bitch!" he exclaimed. At this point, the small boy was crying and running out of the shop. He then talked to a woman that looked like she might have been his mom, who began shaking her fist at Vaughn. Vaughn didn't seem fazed at all. **Author's Note: Wow, I'm really AuNoing you guys out. Dx I wanted to say that I think I like Vaughn on the good side! :D**

"First we have to get Dallas," Sora began, though he spoke worriedly, "Do you know where he is?"

Vaughn nodded. "Castle, probably. He's the head of the military." With that, they all left the shop after Vaughn flipped the sign to closed. An old man who apparently wanted to buy some flowers for the hot date that he wasn't ever going to have gave Vaughn a look before turning on his heel and walking towards a Cold Stone Creamery, which was conveniently placed next to Weight Watchers.

The Castle was extremely close by. Upon their arrival, the guards immediately let them in; of course, that was expected. How could they live in Amber Pearls without hearing of The Pearl Alliance or the Keyblade Master and his friends? They couldn't pass up a visit with Stash and Jocasta as long as they were there, so the first guard they met directed them towards the den. Why were they there?

The six of them arrived at the den, just to see something they should have expected.

"Blackjack," Stash said, holding up the cards.

"_No._" Jocasta firmly responded. In both appearance and attitude, they hadn't changed a bit, although Jocasta looked slightly stressed.

"Go fish?"

"_No_."

"Strip poker?" This time, Jocasta hit Stash on the head so hard that, no doubt, he would be seeing stars. It must have taken them another minute to notice that the other six were there. They exchanged their hellos and told them about what was going on.

Jocasta frowned. "All that for a heart? Why wouldn't he just get you to make one?" The Queen asked, looking at Cora.

Cora shook her head. "I can't be too sure. He must _really_ want Vice's."

"Well," Stash began, stroking his chin. That was the one thing that was beginning to change about his appearance; he was getting some stubble on his chin. "Dallas is probably in the training room. It's just a couple of rooms down from here. Those slamming noises were either him training or..." Stash's voice traveled as he began to wonder.

Of course, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Cora, Umeko and Vaughn all got out of that room before Stash could finish his sentence. It was easy to find the training room. They stopped as they made it to the frame of the large gym, where Dallas was beating up on a dummy with boxing gloves on and a tank top. He must have been working for a while, because he was sweating. Another familiar face resided in the castle, Oki, sitting on a chair and watching him train. "You've gotten better," she noted.

Dallas flashed that dazzlingly scary smile and, sticking to his one-syllable tradition, responded, "Duh," and continued to beat up on the dummy until Cora cleared her throat. **Author's Note: Who else thinks of Umbridge whenever anyone clears their throats? Dx** Dallas stopped immediately, where the swinging dummy almost hit him, and grinned upon the sight of everyone. "Well, well, well. Look who's here."

Again, Cora got a hug; she really had visited those two often before her leave. "Took you guys long enough."

Kairi nodded. "And Vice is gone, yadda yadda, ran away. I forgot to tell you." She frowned, but Dallas only shook his had as if he expected it.

"No time to lose," he said simply and stretched his left arm behind his back. He had definitely gotten more muscular since the last time they saw him; it must have been something that the military, especially one that fights against Heartless, would do to you. "Later, baby," he said to Oki, giving her a seductive smile.

"Dallas," Kairi said, frowning, "she's fifteen."

Dallas shrugged. "I'm eighteen."

"Exactly." Kairi sighed. "I guess love knows no numbers. Let's get going, anyway, if we want to make it to Aureole of Darkness before they find Vice and swallow him up." Umeko and Sora, as per usual, led the way out of the castle and back to the Gummi Ship. Surprising them to no end, standing in front of them was the man with the face covered in red ribbon and the hat covering his hair.

"Is that Apollyon?" Kairi asked them in awe. Sora and Riku only nodded.

"You're all going to Aureole of the Dark?" the man asked. The voice was lower, deeper, but there was something familiar about that voice that Cora couldn't quite place. Why did he sound so familiar?

Sora nodded guardedly. "Or we could just take care of you right here, Apollyon," Sora suggested, summoning Ultima. At that, the rest of the group got the point. Way to Dawn, Destiny Blade, Shark Attack, Ether Essence, Lethal Valentine and Poison Sea all appeared in the others' hands. Seven keyblades; that had to be lucky, right?

Cora could swear she saw a smile under those ribbons. "Defeat me here," he began lowly, "and you will get rid of the problem, not the one who makes the problem." Sevar, who they thought was Apollyon, put his hands out. "I'm an open target."

Sora was about to rush, but Riku put a hand out to stop him. "What do you mean?" Riku asked him.

The man's smile seemed to fade a bit, his eyes growing wider as his facial expressions relaxed. "I can't blow it," he said mostly to himself, "not now." He looked up at the seven of them and summoned his two weapons, two curved swords, that seemed to be engulfed in darkness in some sort of an element form.

"I'm not waiting any longer!" Sora shouted, running forward. Ultima clashed with his curved swords multiple times. Sora would attack and the man would defend; attack, defend, attack, defend. Why was he never attacking? "Why won't you _fight us_?" Sora shouted, growing angrier with each slash of his keyblade.

Suddenly, the man lashed out at Sora's keyblade only, sending him tumbling backwards, but not hurt. Cora ran up next, but stopped herself short, getting a look at his one eye. It was a light green that seemed to slowly be turning darker. The girl stopped; she knew those eyes so well. So well.

The man, before he turned around, flicked a piece of paper Sora's direction. He caught it, but barely. An Apollyon report. "What?" Sora asked, "Apollyon, why are you giving this to us?" he asked angrily.

The man continued to turn away, and a portal was created in front of him. Not by him, though, which was another sign.

"Wait," Cora said, and Apollyon stopped in his tracks. "You're not Apollyon, are you?" There was silence between all eight of them. For a few moments, nobody moved. The portal even seemed to stay stagnant. "Who are you, really?"

At that, the man turned around with something in his hand. He placed the object in Cora's and closed her fingers over it before turning around and walking back through the portal. When Cora opened her hand, she saw the small, cracked golden locket that Vice had given her the year before. "I knew it," she murmured.

"It's Vice," Riku said, surprised himself.

"And he was pretending to work under Apollyon so he wouldn't get suspicious of him. Everything makes sense now." Sora sighed. "Nothing we can do now. On the bright side, we got an Apollyon report!"

The boy eagerly unfolded the report, and looked confused. The words at the top, _Apollyon's Eighth Report of Eight_ were scratched out, along with the first half of the report. Something was censored out. Below that was writing in a different handwriting, something none of them had expected.

_Kione's Report_

_I've been recently told my Somebody's name. Cora._

_I had said at one point that the name meant nothing to me. The truth is, when I hear that name, I get this twinge in my stomach that I can't quite explain with words. Is that what a feeling is like?_

_Cora is my Somebody. I feel her moving from place to place, everywhere, and I know that she and her friends are after Apollyon now._

_I know a few things, things that I feel from her. She's not the same girl that she used to be. She's become harder, like stone, her shell slowly thickening. She's not the same happy, enthusiastic and determined girl she used to be._

_I know that she revolves her life around science because she knows it is constant and something you can prove, whereas the dark and the light are two things that just can't be defined as anything but pure ether._

_I know that she's in love with the man who is working for Apollyon under disguise, Sevar, otherwise known as Vice, the one Apollyon has been looking for: Thomas._

_I know that there are only two ways to get a heart and become a Somebody. The first one would be to kill her, as she can't make me one because it wouldn't work; no two hearts can be identical when I need an identical one. The second one would be to join with her._

_Which one is easier?_

_Which one does Apollyon recommend?_

_But how much longer will Apollyon be here to tell me which to choose?_

**Author's Note: And there we go. xD And I got a squee-aga! Yay! xD Oh, and yes, I have been reading The Rest of My Life by Igor Lollipop, and it is pretty amazing. I'm starting to love it. x3 So anyway, please review, guys! Two chapters to go, discluding the epilogue. In the next one, they go to Aureole of the Dark! If you haven't looked up what an aureole is yet, I would Dx**


	14. In Peace

**Author's Note: And here we are, the second to last chapter, not counting the epilogue. I've got a couple of interesting scenes coming up, but nothing too surprising if you've been reading between the lines, which I know both of my constant reviewers do. As for you readers that don't review (but really should!), pay close attention. I've got so much in store for the last chapter- I'll probably have it up later tonight or early tomorrow morning. Please read and review, and I hope you like it!**

* * *

_**Chapter XIV:**_

_**In Peace**_

"_Watch as I go back._

_I just came to say that:_

_You'll never see me again._

_This clock is ours now, 'till morning._

_So stay right there in that frame._

_This picture is how we speak._

_You'll never see me again_

_'Cause I miss you already._"

'Your Taste is My Attention' by Lydia

* * *

**Sora's Gummi Ship**

"You guys still nervous?" Vaughn asked with his hands behind his head, grinning wryly at the three girls. Dallas just laughed afterwards. Though it was obvious to tell that Vaughn was just pretending to be so relaxed, he did a better job of it than Kairi, Cora or Umeko were doing. Umeko put her hands on her hips.

"We're finally going to search and destroy Apollyon. Shouldn't you be acting a little more seirous?"

"Well," Dallas piped up, causing everyone to look his direction. He had, after all, been silent the entire trip so far, "You guys got the wrong man the first time around. Hell, he was even a friend of yours. What if we get the wrong guy again?"

"We won't," Riku called back from the cockpit.

"Always so confident," Dallas laughed, and that was the last that anyone heard out of him for the rest of the Gummi Ship ride. In fact, everybody had been more or less silent. On the bright side, they didn't have to scream over the hum of the engine, which was always a bit too loud. This time, it served as an excuse.

* * *

**Aureole of the Dark**

The group was speechless upon its arrival to Aureole of the Dark. It had to be the right world, as the sun was just setting; no clouds of darkness had begun to take over the sky. Either Apollyon forgot to darken yet another world, or they were in the right one. The setting sun colored the world a brilliant gold; even the lavishly green grass seemed to take on a yellow tint. Most importantly, the large, stone tower a mile or two ahead of them on the terrain, one that cast a shadow hundreds of feet long, looked golden and glowing.

"That makes sense," Dallas began, "Aureole of the Dark."

"No time to waste!" exclaimed Sora, trudging ahead of the group. Well, it was more like running. Umeko, still equally as used to being the leader of a group, ran to get ahead of him. The rest of them had to run, as well, which Cora later complained about because they would run out of energy if they came across Apollyon.

By the time they actually ran the two miles (which was something that the people who didn't generally run had to remember to _thank_ Sora for later) and reached the base of the tower, the mood immediately darkened. It was different, looking at the tower from far away, but actually standing under the monster of a shadow it cast, everything was different.

"Think we can just walk in?" Kairi asked out of nowhere.

"I don't see why they would lock it," Vaughn said immediately, walking in front of the group and putting his hand on the doorknob. At that, flashes appeared all around them, and Nobodies that looked like spindly lions appeared around them.

"I forgot all about the Nobodies," Riku mentioned, calling Way to Dawn. He wondered what the former Nobodies in Radiant Garden would think.

"Piece of cake," Cora said, smiling, pulling out Ether Essence. These Nobodies in particular seemed to like picking on Cora; they must have been Kione's Nobodies, she thought. When they finally destroyed all of them, Cora looked at her pocket. **Author's Note: Use your imagination with the Nobody fights. I don't want to seem repetative. Dx** Without thinking, she pulled out the locket and put it around her neck.

"Let's hope that's a good luck charm, because we could need some luck," Umeko sighed, and they opened the door to the tower. The Foyer that they walked in, which only seemed to ascend to the seventh level despite the height of the tower, was also covered in Lyons.

"Firaga!" Cora called, destroying two in the process as Riku and Sora went head-to-head with the others. In the meantime, Kairi, Umeko, Dallas and Vaughn looked around the room.

"Nothing special in here," Vaughn called to them when they were through.

"Except for this... an article about Keir when he was a kid," Umeko said. They all walked over to the wall, where an article was framed on the wall like an overly proud mother would do to his son that got in the paper. It was something about being the best runner in his world.

"He's proud," Cora muttered, and they all began to ascend to the next level. If they were anything like the first one, they would find Apollyon any time. The problem was, the next levels weren't. This one only had three doors, one of which held a bathroom while the other two held empty bedrooms.

"Nothing in any of 'em," came Dallas, walking out from the last room. Nowhere to go but up.

The group practically ran up the next flight of stairs, getting anxious. So far, there was no sign of Kione or Apollyon except for the Nobodies that continuously attacked them. There was no sign that anybody was living in that tower at all save for the Lyons. The third floor seemed to only be a viewing room, as all of the walls were made of glass except for one patch of wall that held a mirror, oddly dark.

"What about this?" Cora asked, walking up to the mirror. She was reminded briefly of the mirror room- which this couldn't be, if anything, it was the glass room- and put her hand on the glass of the mirror. In a flash, Cora realized she was no longer in the tower, rather in an area of swirling black and purple, and standing in front of her was a Behemoth Heartless. **Author's Note: Think End of the World.**

"Think I know what I have to do," Cora muttered, staring at the Behemoth. She knew how to handle these, considering the amount she had destroyed when she was traveling with Dolan and Riku so long ago. "Blizzara!" Cora shouted, pointing her keyblade at the horn. The beast cried out in something between pain and anger, and pounded towards Cora.

Though it knocked her down, she managed to push herself back up. This time, she ran away from the Behemoths attacks by rushing to its side and climbing up its hind legs and onto its back. The Behemoth began to thrash, so she clung to its back, determined to not let it throw her off. "Blizzara!" she shouted again as she ran down its back, trying not to slip. This only made the Behemoth angrier.

Finally, it seemed, she made it to the horn. She began to hack the crap out of it, and it was a good thing she did, because it fell almost immediately. In a flash, the girl arrived back at the room. The rest of the group was looking at her in complete shock. "Don't touch any of the mirrors," she muttered, walking towards the flight of stairs.

The fourth floor out of seven, and the team was already tiring out. The difference between this floor and the first three before it was that it actually extended into a hallway with separate rooms branching off of it. It definitely betrayed how narrow the tower looked from the outside, but as Donald had proved on several occasions, magic really can do anything.

"I'm a little afraid of opening the doors and finding another Behemoth," Cora admitted, and the rest of them nodded.

"We'll look through the keyholes," Umeko suggested. **Author's Note: If Igor Lollipop doesn't know what's going to happen, she should think back to that one story with the Albinos I told her.**

The rest of the group seemed to find that fitting, except Dallas; he shifted uncomfortably, restless and ready for a fight, but majority would have to rule. Cora and Umeko took the first set of doors, looking through. "It looks like an empty bedroom," Cora said, shuddering slightly.

"Same here," Umeko murmured.

"Since you two like doing this so much, why don't you just cover the other eight doors, too?" Kairi asked, laughing nervously. Why was she so afraid of a hallway with spare rooms? Cora thought back to The Shining, with all of the hotel's narrow hallways, and the boy riding his little bike through the halls. That made a bit of sense.

"Wimp," Cora teased, putting her hands on her hips. Kairi pulled down one of her eyelids and stuck out her tongue. How mature that group tended to be during the most dire of all situations.

The next two doors were just the same, and the next two, and the next two. Except, one of the second to last pair of doors had a few things lying about, showing that someone might have, once upon a time, lived there, or still did. It was impossible to tell without actually stepping into the rooms, which neither Cora nor Umeko dared to do.

Finally, they came across the last two doors. "Hey, I think I see something," Umeko said, looking into it. These rooms had a bit more junk lying about and other signs of life.

"Me too-" Cora's sentence was cut short as she saw one hazel eye right in front of the keyhole. Cora screamed slightly and backed up a pace; now she understood more than ever why people were afraid of looking into keyholes. The entire group readied their weapons- Ultima, Way to Dawn, Destiny Blade, Ether Essence, Shark Attack, Poison Sea and Lethal Valentine. **Author's Note: By now, you should be able to pick out which character is there based on the name of their keyblade. xD Alright now, I'm done drowning this chapter in author's notes.**

The door burst open and two familiar figures walked out in front of the group of seven. Blaise and Sienna, no doubt. Of course, Vaughn and Dallas didn't recognize them, but they had been told about them from Kairi. Their eyes were clouded over and they were pointing Origins of Nothing and One Dream threateningly at them. The hall was way too narrow to fight in, but it didn't seem they had a choice.

"Kione must know we're here," Umeko muttered, extending Shark Attack a little further.

"Good," Cora smiled.

"We can't hold back anymore," Sora warned them, and Umeko, Cora, Riku and Kairi all nodded; they knew that by now. Whenever they held back, someone was injured. The best they could do for themselves- and Sienna and Blaise- would be to destroy them and send them back to the dead.

To their surprise, Sienna started talking. The two of them rarely talked when they were under Kione and Apollyon's control. "She told us you would be here."

Cora raised Ether Essence higher. "Where is Kione?" she asked them threateningly.

"With Apollyon," Blaise answered her.

"And Apollyon?" Sora asked, stepping in front of the group. "Where's he?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sienna asked, in such a snappy way that Sora recoiled slightly. He shook it off, remembering that it wasn't really Sienna. If Sienna had her free will, she would never act that way towards Sora and the others... right?

"Then we'll force it out of you," Vaughn barked, rushing in front of the group and clashed Lethal Valentine with Origins of Nothing. Dallas did the same with Blaise. Although they would like to think that they weren't, it was true that the rest of the group seemed to be hesitating.

Dallas's training really was showing. He knocked One Dream out of the way and slashed at Blaise in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. If he wasn't a football player before he became a keyblade wielder, he probably would have stayed there, unmoving. However, he stood up and ran at him, keyblade out like a sword, and knocked Dallas's wielding arm to the side, almost breaking it, but not quite.

Vaughn's lack of practice, however, was also showing. When you work in a flower shop for a year, your fighting skills tend to deteriorate. Sienna knocked Vaughn to the other side of the hallway; he hit the wall and slid to the ground. He was obviously still alive, but too wiped out already to stand.

"Got it!" Cora called, and ran up to Sienna. Ether Essence smacked against Origins of Nothing, and sparks flew. Again, the two keyblades had a reaction to each other.

"I always knew you hated me, Cora," Sienna hissed at her. It was just Kione talking for her, just Kione. **Author's Note: I almost forgot, don't forget what Blaise said to Sienna a chapter or two back, that Kione found a way to control the dolls with magic so she doesn't have to be holding them all the time.** **That's important.**

Cora's eyes widened, hurt. "I never hated you!" she argued, "I barely got to know you!"

"It's why you switched over to the light, took my place with my friends and allowed Thomas to take my heart. It's because you hated me," She just missed Cora by an inch, and Cora blocked Origins of Nothing once again.

"You helped _save_ me from Thomas! _I don't hate you_!" she shouted, and seemed to catch Sienna off guard as she knocked her down and to the side. Sienna, with eyes as wide as a deer's looked up at Cora after she was knocked to the ground. "I'm trying to help you."

Sienna got up without another word and clashed keyblades with Cora again, and Riku joined in to help her. Kairi, Umeko and the newly recovered Vaughn went back to fight with Blaise, who seemed to be a little out of practice. Sora stayed back, surveying the fight, though he itched to use Ultima Weapon himself; the last time he got the chance to use it that day was against who they originally thought to be Apollyon, but was really Vice in disguise, and he barely got to fight then.

Sora sighed and leaned against the wall of the hallway to watch the fight, but his back hit something. As he turned around, he saw that he just hit a picture, one that looked to be of a black dragon and a white dragon circling each other. Why was it lower than the rest of them? That wasn't important; what was was the fight.

"Blaise!" Sienna shouted, and Blaise looked towards her, nodding. In one motion, they got out of the way of the other Keyblade wielders and threw their keyblades across from each other, so Sienna was wielding One Dream and Blaise had Origins of Nothing. They threw them back and in a burst of grey energy, a huge ripple went across the room, almost knocking everybody in the battle out.

When they all stood up to see Sienna and Blaise, they seemed perfectly alright, holding their usual keyblades. "Shit," Sora mumbled, "they're really getting beat out there." At that, he looked back at the picture behind him... there had to be a _reason_ it was so low.

It was worth a shot.

Sora, undetected by the others as usual, pulled on the picture, and behind it was a small compartment, holding two dolls. One of them resembled Sienna almost perfectly, and the other Blaise. Umeko, who was closest to Sora at the time, having just been knocked away by Blaise, was handed the dolls.

"Hurry!" Sora told her.

Umeko nodded. "Sienna! Blaise!" she called, and the two looked at her guardedly. Umeko, using the best throwing she ever had, threw the two dolls at them. In a burst of light, the dolls exploded above them into falling glitter, engulfing the two keyblade wielders.

For a few moments, Sienna and Blaise seemed to be glowing. Their eyes looked normal, and they were even smiling at the group, despite the cuts and bruises they had just gotten from fighting them. "Knew you could do it," Sienna smiled.

Umeko looked back at the girl and nodded, grinning.

"Sora," Sienna said, and Sora stepped in front of them.

"Yeah, Sienna?" Sora asked excitedly.

"Tell Roxas I said hello," she girnned at him. Sora, surprised, nodded his head, though he furrowed his eyebrows.

"You can tell him yourself," Sora said.

Sienna shook her head. "After all I've been through, I should have died by now. And Blaise needs to get back to... wherever it is we're going." She looked at Blaise, who nodded. They would remember when they made it there. "We have to go."

"No!" Kairi said, upset, "But we _just_ saved you! You guys have another chance!"

Sienna shook her head. "I'm just glad I got to say good-bye."

"Me, too," Blaise said, grinning, "and tell Dolan to stop crying at my grave. I don't blame him for my dying." At that, the group actually managed to chuckle. Next, it was Cora who walked up to Sienna.

"Sienna, I really don't hate you. In fact, I always admired you. Sora and the others spoke so highly of you. And giving yourself up for me and everyone else... I don't hate you." Sienna nodded, smiling.

"I know you don't. Take care of them," she said, looking back at Sora, Riku, Kairi and Umeko. "They'll need it."

Again, the group laughed. "Take care," Blaise said, and they didn't again look at them. Sienna and Blaise's hands seemed to find each other as they turned around, their fingers entwining in one another's. At the end of the hallway, there was a flash of light, one that seemed to stay there like a star. The two of them walked forward and disappeared into thin air, leaving their friends behind. As the light dimmed and left, where it was laid a set of stairs up to the next level of the tower.

"They're in peace, now," Dallas noted to them.

The others just nodded or blinked, and looked at where Sienna and Blaise had disappeared. It was true; the two wielders were finally, after all that time, resting in peace.

**Author's Note: That was a bit shorter than I expected, but what are you gonna do? I'm very excited for the next chapter, so I'm probably going to start writing it almost immediately. I have to get as much writing done before the weekend's over and I have to go back to school. xD Review please!**


	15. And the Ribbon Burned

**Author's Note: The last chapter! So, I had a much sadder ending planned in this chapter, but I decided against it. I'll explain the alternate ending in the epilogue extras, so that's something to look forward to. And, again, I highly recommend listening to Sorrow by Flyleaf as you're reading this if you want to feel the full effect of this chapter.**

* * *

_**Chapter XV:**_

_**And the Ribbon Burned**_

"_Sorrow lasts through this night._

_I'll take this piece of you_

_And hope for all eternity._

_For just one second I felt whole_

_As you flew right through me._"

'Sorrow' by Flyleaf

* * *

**Aureole of the Dark**

With Sienna and Blaise finally passed on peacefully, Sora and the others fought against their want to stay completely still where they stood and ascended the next flight of stairs. There was a liquid everywhere they stepped that had an odd, slightly familiar smell to it. A smell grabbed their senses, at first faint but quickly becoming prominent- it smelled like something was burning, but none of them could quite tell what.

"Let's go to the source," Vaughn suggested.

"What if it's a diversion?" Sora asked now, grabbing Vaughn by the arm before he ascended the next flight of stairs, "We could be caught in a fire, and that's just what Apollyon might have wanted. It's what you would have done if you still had most of your darkness, wouldn't you?"

Vaughn raised his eyebrow. "I'm thinking we were better villains than this guy."

"Tch, damn straight," Dallas agreed, and followed Vaughn up the stairs. Not willing to leave behind one of their only ways to destroy Apollyon, by re-absorbing his darkness into the original bodies, they all followed him. Sora, Kairi, Riku, Cora, Umeko, Vaughn and Dallas all continued to ascend the stairs, up, up and up until they reached the seventh floor.

They heard speaking and saw the source of the smell and the smokiness that came with it- one great room, or at least it seemed so as the double doors that led to it were plated with white gold and onyx, looking extremely expensive and important.

"It's coming from in there, go!" Sora shouted, running ahead of the group, and everyone followed him. As they stepped inside the room, they found themselves at the entrance, looking at two men and one woman standing in the middle of a room, three of the four walls surrounded by mirrors.

The first one was Vice. Vice and his red ribbon covering his face, taking a page out of Ansem's book. The second man was someone they didn't recognize with hair, flat in some places and sticking out in the back, the colors strawberry blond, red and blue, but mostly strawberry blond. His eyes ranged from grey to blue to purple, reflecting something that looked like an aurora. He was tall and menacing looking, wearing a black trenchcoat in which his hands were shoved in as he watched Vice curiously. The female figure was Kione, standing in the corner of the room, watching them with an odd look on her face- a mix between satisfaction, understanding and shock all at the same time?

The source of the smoke was obvious. Most of the room, specifically beneath the mirrors where there was a wood finish, was on fire. "Why did you ignite the tower, Sevar?" the other man asked, calmly as all get out.

"I poured gasoline all over the top floors, Apollyon," Vice responded, for some reason to the name Sevar, "and you will burn along with your tower." That was the liquid that they had seen once they reached the fourth floor, Sora decided silently. The entire group was shocked stiff; that was _Apollyon_? He looked much more frightening than they imagined, though the traits of Keir, Vaughn and Dallas were obvious in him.

"You haven't answered my question," Apollyon repeated, still quietly.

The group could _feel_ Vice's smirk through the ribbon. He slowly pulled off the red ribbon to reveal his face to Apollyon, and dropped it to the floor. To _their_ surprise, Kione just nodded, pursing her lips slightly, but Apollyon, showing any hint of emotion for the first time since they had walked in the room, let his eyes narrow and his mouth form a sneer.

"I should have known... Thomas."

"Wrong again, Apollyon," Vice said, grinning like mad now. As he called upon his weapons, two dark chakrams no longer appeared in his hands, but instead, two curved blades which he wielded as if he had been practicing his whole life. "Vice."

Cora smiled- she remembered the day she woke up a year ago from her year-long sleep, how many times Vice had to tell her his new name before she got it straight. It was clear on Apollyon's face that it would take him much longer than that.

Vice, who had obviously noticed Sora and the group's presence- who wouldn't?- looked at them and called, "Get out of here- the tower's going to burn!" The fire was rising now, casting shadows on his face. They all looked sinister- all three of them. Smoke flew across the mirrors, shrouding the place in mystery. For a moment, Cora thought that she could see her Nobody reflected in the mirror in front of her.

"We're not leaving!" Sora was the one to say, pulling his fist down, "We got this far, we're going to kill Apollyon!"

"You're _going_ to die, Sora!" Vice called to him, but Sora shook his head.

"If you haven't noticed, it takes a _lot_ to kill us."

"Then I'll have to deal with you _later_," Apollyon said again, his sneer still not wiped off of his face. He created a barrier in the giant room of mirrors, much of the smoke being caught inside with them. Only Cora, Umeko and Vice were caught inside of the barrier to face against Apollyon, who seemed extremely satisfied.

"What do we do now?" Dallas called to Sora, the unconditional leader as always.

Sora shifted for a moment, "The fire," he called, "we have to stop the fire before it burns down the tower, or we'll all die." It was probably true that Vice didn't anticipate any of his friends coming to the tower when he was to kill Apollyon.

So Sora, Kairi, Riku, Dallas and Vaughn summoned their keyblades, Ultima, Destiny Blade, Way to Dawn, Poison Sea and Lethal Valentine. "Blizzara!" and "Blizzaga!" and similar magic was heard throughout the room, in echoes and shouts. To their surprise, another keyblade, Mirrored Memories appeared beside them. It was seafoam green and blue, swirling around the shaft, and the teeth looked like they were made of smoke. The handle was relatively basic, but the keychain was a small mirror-like charm.

Kione.

"Why are you helping us?" Kairi called to her as they both began to exterminate as much of the fire as they could.

"I'm not ready to die," the Nobody answered simply. Kairi could pick out the slight difference in Kione's voice from Cora's much easier then. "Don't pay attention to me, get the fire out, before we burn!"

Meanwhile, Vice, Cora and Umeko stared at Apollyon nervously as he gave them a smirk that reminded them much too much of Keir's, even though they hadn't seen him for an entire year. "It's about time I got to meet you, Cora and Umeko!" he practically laughed, "Do you two have any idea how many times you've been in my memories? My dreams?"

"You're _psychotic_, Apollyon," Cora hissed, and then the smoke began to shroud everything around them. The three of them could hardly see each other when they were right next to each other, but Apollyon was completely shrouded.

"And you're _weak_, Cora," came Apollyon's voice, much closer than before. Before Cora got the chance to react, she felt a keyblade at her side, and got a glimpse of it. Sure enough, it looked just like Lethal Valentine, Poison Sea and Power Shock all rolled into one extremely powerful looking keyblade.

"He's hiding himself," Umeko pointed out, "he's doing this on purpose. We have to find a way to track h-" Umeko's sentence was cut short as she was knocked to the ground as well. Cora, who had just gotten up, saw this flash of movement and ran to Umeko to help her up. She had gotten hit in the head, much harder than Cora did.

"Coward!" Umeko hissed angrily as she finally managed to stand up. Vice was looking around nervously, on guard with his two curved swords. "Vice!" Umeko shouted, and Vice followed their voices to run towards them. The smoke was gliding over the mirror they were standing in front of, reflecting themselves in the Realm of Darkness, and it looked like Thomas was being surrounded by hundreds of Heartless.

"We have to stick together," Vice whispered now, still hidden behind the thick smoke, "and use the _mirror_." He pointed to the mirror in front of them- they saw Keir, of all people, behind the smoke being reflected in the mirror, moving towards them. "Move!" he called.

Cora and Umeko, having surprisingly good reaction times, jumped out of the way and saw Apollyon bring down his keyblade, Lethal Electric Sea to nobody in front of them. **Author's Note: I know, as opposed to a safe electric sea? But I couldn't come up with a better name for the keyblade. Dx**

"Firaga!" Cora shouted from far away, sending a beam of fire at Apollyon. The man hissed, being sent about five feet away, and hit the mirror behind him. It moved slightly. "Together," Cora said with them. Just as the three of them lifted their keyblades and swords Apollyon, like lightning, rushed towards Cora and knocked her backwards. She scraped herself on the ground and was bleeding in several different locations, but she wouldn't let flesh wounds get her down. By the time she got up, Apollyon was trying to shake off Umeko, who was attacking him like a madwoman as he went after Vice.

"Firaga!" Cora called once again, sending him backwards into the mirror again. Apollyon stood up growling, but then he turned around and looked at the mirror where Vice was being reflected as Thomas in.

"Thomas!" he cried to the mirror, and to their surprise, the reflection in the mirror began to move on its own, blinking at its own time and looking at Apollyon both curiously and expectantly. "Give me your heart!"

"Not a chance," came a voice from behind them. This one belonged to Vice. In a boomerang-like motion, he took both of his swords and threw them forward, crossing like an X in the middle of their venture. They hit the mirror, already weakened by Apollyon knocking into it twice, and the mirror shattered, pieces flying everywhere.

Although Cora, Umeko and Vice were damaged from the flying pieces of glass, bleeding even more now, Apollyon was damaged the most. He cried out something horrible, both for his pain and the loss of one of his three treasured mirrors. Anger now filled his features, destroying any sense of playfulness he might have had in the fight, and began to gather dark energy at the tip of his keyblade. Before the other three could react, he sent it at them. Vice got the brunt of the attack, though the other two were knocked backwards.

"Together!" Cora shouted, and looked at Umeko. They seemed to be sharing a sort of secret code, one only they could understand, between each other, between their best friends. Ether Essence and Shark attack were lifted in the air. A dark beam formed at the teeth of Cora's keyblade, and a light one at the tip of Umeko's. They threw it in the air, and in a burst of power, Apollyon was knocked to the ground.

"I've got it!" Umeko cried before Vice could go forward towards him. An ability she had been afraid to use because of the slowly eclipsing darkness before now, she began to use. Umeko shifted immediately into her anti-form, her keyblade disappearing. She clawed at the man, digging deep into him, sending him backwards.

"Throw your sword up!" Cora commanded Vice who, for once, listened to her. He threw up one of his curved swords to her, and Cora hit it like a baseball with her keyblade. It managed to hit straight at Apollyon, getting his arm. Just as he shook Umeko off of him, he cried out in pain from the stab.

He looked at Vice.

Vice, seeing the look on his face, backed off. Apollyon pulled the sword from his arm, the gushing blood not quite stopping. With his keyblade, he summoned dark power to eclipse around the entire thing, making it almost entirely black now, and rushed towards Vice. Vice, without the other blade, had no way of defending himself besides his one curved sword, which was knocked out of his hand almost immediately.

He was stabbed in the stomach, dangerously close to his heart.

"_Vice_!" Cora cried out, as he fell to his knees, and then to the ground. Cora rushed up to him and flipped him over, looking at the body for a moment. In the meantime, Umeko dealt the finishing blow on Apollyon after she shifted back into her regular form. Apollyon seemed to be entirely struck stiff by Cora's unsespecting care for Vice. After a cry far worse then anything anyone had seen before, Apollyon began to fade into the smoke around them, and the barrier disappeared.

Umeko squinted, trying to see who was in front of her, because there was still a figure there. As she blinked, she realized that darkness was flying to two people behind her- probably the darkness returning to Dallas and Vaughn. But who was in front of her?

Umeko stepped forward a couple of paces, and made out a figure. Longish, strawberry blond hair, glowing purple eyes, like a silhouette of smoke, but strips of darkness were swimming inside of the figure. Keir?

"Keir-" Umeko began, but Keir put a finger to her lips, silencing her.

A voice that she hadn't heard in a long time spoke from the boy that should have been there with Dallas and Vaughn to rejoin everyone in the light realm. "Took you long enough, Umeko," he smiled at the girl, and Umeko couldn't help but to smile back.

Much like Sienna and Blaise had, Keir turned on his heel and disappeared mid-turn, into smoke. He seemed to rise up, however, and through the ceiling. Was his darkness going to join his light up in the heavens?

"Vice... Vice..." came a weak voice from behind her.

Everyone who had been trying to extinguish the fire, including Kione, had rushed over to see. Cora was shaking Vice, who lay motionless on the floor. Umeko, worried, walked up to them both and knelt down, taking one of Vice's wrists in her hands. She put two fingers to his wrists. "There's no pulse, Cora," Umeko told her softly.

"No... Vice!" She shouted again, and buried her head in his chest, which wasn't moving up and down with new breaths.

Kione reached forward, but Sora pulled her hand back, shaking his head. Kione furrowed her eyebrows together and nodded.

"Vice, I'm sorry..." she muttered into his chest, "I'm so sorry." Her voice was shaking now, and his chest slowly dampening with tears. "This is all my fault. If I didn't tell you to throw one of your swords, you would have been able to protect yourself..." She pulled her head away from him again. Her eyeliner was running down her face, and she wouldn't wipe the tears away. The locket dangled in between them, still attached to Cora's neck.

"I do care about you, Vice, and I'm sorry I never showed it." She sobbed again, "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, I'm sorry I ever broke our promise and left you for a year. I'm sorry I never told you I love you, Vice, because I _do_," she insisted, and as a cry escaped her lips again, she attempted in vain to bite back another tear. "I was always so logical so I could hide things like this. I thought love was a weakness, I didn't want to be pulled back from it, but..." she bit her lip again and practically shouted, "If you didn't love me then I probably wouldn't be here right now!" She buried her face in his chest again.

"I love you... don't go."

And something shifted beneath her.

Like a doctor had just jump started her heart, it almost pounded through her chest as she heard this, but Cora wouldn't move. Against her ear, slowly but surely, Cora could hear the steady beating of Vice's heart, she could feel it against her skin. Slowly she pulled away, and everyone around her watched the scene in awe. Vice blinked a couple of times and looked up at Cora in wonder, as if seeing her for the first time, and then smiled weakly.

"You always such a crybaby?" he asked her, chuckling lightly.

Cora, smiling like she had never smiled before though her eyes were still squinted, the tears burning her eyes, put her left hand on Vice's cheek. He was still lying on his back on the floor. "You always like scaring me like that?" she asked, laughing away a sob that came in the middle of her sentence.

Vice smiled, a genuine smile that looked absolutely nothing like Thomas's, and moved his hand to push Cora's hair behind her left ear. There was a second of silence as they just looked at each other, the locket still dangling in between them. "Marry me?" he asked her.

Cora closed her eyes and smiled again, letting herself laugh now. "Yes," was all she said. No witty lines, no cute clichés, just "yes".

Kione, however, was looking at the little bit of fire still left in the room, extremely close to Cora and Vice. As Cora moved out of the way, allowing Vice to sit up, she looked at Kione, who pulled her eyes from the fire, and stood up.

It truly was like looking through a mirror, Cora thought, and this time, when Cora smiled, Kione smiled back. "Thanks," Kione said.

"No sweat," Cora laughed, wiping a tear from her face.

Kione extended her hand. "You win," she said, and Cora took it. Slowly, light began to engulf Kione. "You make a good other," she finished as the last bit of her went back into Cora. Cora sighed, feeling whole for the first time since a year ago- it was a good feeling.

"What do we do now?" Cora asked everybody, who was smiling at her, as if they had finally figured out the big mystery that was Cora Olsen.

Sora smiled at this question and responded to her, "We go home."

"One second," Vice said, still weak from his injury and bleeding. He bent over to pick up the long, red ribbon he had used to hide his face from Apollyon and looked at it for a minute before walking over to the last bit of flame left in the room, and dropped the object into the crackling light.

And the ribbon burned.

**Author's Note: I hope you liked that chapter, I'd been planning it out for so long. I did steal the tower burning idea from The Flamingo Rising, a book I had to read for school, but I didn't realize I stole it until after I wrote it. xD Anyway, in the epilogue I will explain what happened to everybody, some of the symbolism, and my new fanfiction name for my next story. Please review!**


	16. Final Epilogue

_**Chapter XVI:**_

_**Final Epilogue**_

"_This journey of ours never ends, we will always pretend._

_Fighting not to let them in, and they're falling into our illusion._

_On our own, on our own way._

_Bottled up is where our fears go, our fears go._

_We will never show our fear._

_They'll tear us up until our tears show, our tears show._

_Smoke and mirrors._

_It's about smoke and mirrors._"

'Smoke and Mirrors' by Skye Sweetnam

* * *

**Eventide Mountains**

"Umeko, how are you feeling?" Coy asked his wife around noon, smiling tiredly. It had definitely been a long day and night, as they had been getting ready to celebrate Coy and Umeko's seven-year anniversary that day. The baby had kept them up all night, which was to be expected- little Kaida had been caulicky just like her mom. Whenever she got to go play with Naminé and Roxas's baby, Sienna, however, she always slept the night well.

"I'm thinking that Roxas and Naminé have better brought Sienna with them," Umeko laughed, cradling the baby girl. She had her father's light brown hair, but hazel eyes, mixed from her father's light brown and her mother's forest green.

"We should pay everyone a visit," Coy chuckled, standing up as he set down the newspaper. Umeko knew what to do; she handed Kaida to her father- she always seemed happiest in his arms. The baby, who was breathing heavily like she was about to begin crying again, immediately calmed down. "It's a good thing they're all coming over today. I haven't seen Sora, Riku or Kairi in Eventide Mountains in months."

"And after all that time you were looking after dogs, you work so well with babies." The tired Umeko laughed gently, sitting down in the chair Coy had been in the kitchen.

"Aw, the dogs love Kaida," Coy argued. As if he said the magic word, the six of the seven dogs that were still alive ran up to them, rubbing their heads against Umeko and Coy as if begging to be pet. Umeko managed to be able to, but Coy was too busy with the baby.

"You mean when she isn't pulling out their fur?" Umeko laughed now, stretching her arms behind her head, but quickly got pushed out of her comfort zone when the doorbell rang. "I've got it," she sighed, realizing that Coy was still busy with Kaida.

She opened the door, seeing exactly who she wanted to. Upon opening the door, Umeko and Cora embraced happily. It had been way too long. Vice was standing behind them, holding their toddler, Emery. "Auntie Umeko!" Emery cried out, running up to Umeko. She picked him up and hugged him, then got a good look at the boy.

His hair was a dark brown, just slightly darker than Cora's shade, and tousled like his father's. he had heterochromia for his eyes- near the pupil they were green and at the outer edge they were brown. "Hey, Emery!" Umeko exclaimed. Coy walked out, still holding Kaida, and greeted the two of them.

"Auntie Umeko, can I go play with Kaida?" he asked her, completely beaming.

"Of course," Umeko laughed, putting the toddler down. Coy did the same with Kaida, who could just barely crawl.

"Just don't try and feed her those Japanese beatles anymore," Vice called after them as he practically picked the baby up by her arms and ran off. "So, people were cheering once we came here, trying to say hello to us. I take if you two've been good royalty?"

"Umeko was born for it," Coy laughed, and Umeko shot them a look before they walked into the living room.

"When are the others coming?" Cora asked, making herself comfortable in the black leather couch. It was like her, Vice and Emery's home, after all."

Umeko's brow furrowed, "Sora, Kairi and the twins aren't coming for another two hours, but Naminé, Roxas and Sienna should be here any minute. Song's Shimmer is a lot closer than Destiny Islands, after all."

Vice nodded, but Cora sighed.

"It's just so hard to believe that after all this time it's finally all over." She looked behind her shoulder for a sign of the kids- nothing. "I didn't think any of us would actually get a chance to settle down and have a family."

Umeko smiled back at her. "Let's not jinx it."

After all, keyblade wielding, darkness and light, and power hungry enemies were one thing. The real adventure was only starting.

**Author's Note: And there you go. Short and sweet. I purposely left for grabs what happened to the other characters, like Kasa, Dolan, Axel, Dallas, Vaughn, etc. so you could use your imagination. It's been amazing, writing these stories, and it made me happy that I managed to gain a couple of reviewers. Thank you everyone who read for reading, as well! And now, here's a bunch of extra stuff that really doesn't matter. xD**

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**Last Chapter Alternate Ending Explanation**

I had actually begun writing the last chapter before I even finished chapter twelve, but by the time I got to chapter fourteen, I realized that this story deserved to have a happy ending. The original ending was a lot darker than the one there right now.

Everything was supposed to be the same up to where Vice gets injured and dies. In the one up, he manages to push himself to survive, but in the other ending, he dies for good. Cora, grief-stricken, leaves the tower immediately. Nobody knows what happens to her after that, as nobody ever sees her. Some say that she commits suicide, while others say that she's changed her identity to start over and put keyblade-wielding behind her.

And also, the tower in the alternate ending's fire is not extinguished; that last bit of flame that the ribbon burns in (which Sora drops into the fire in the alternate ending) grows from being fed the ribbon and destroys the tower, but all of the others make it out safely, though Vice's body is cremated inside.

Kione, however, never gets a heart or rejoins with Cora, rather she gets a job and lives on her own for a long time until living apart from her Somebody for too long eventually kills her. The song that I was going to have represent that chapter is Love Is Dead by Kerli.

Aren't you happy I picked the happier ending, now? xD

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**Symbolism**

The symbolism was pretty basic and obvious, but I feel like explaining it for those that don't exactly look for these kind of things. I was extremely surprised; it's very easy to incorporate symbolism into a story without even trying to. Here goes.

**The locket**- The love between Vice and Cora. Discreet and small, but golden amongst all else. However, there is darkness in all love- Cora not being able to admit to her feelings for Vice is also symbolism for Apollyon being born from that darkness. When it cracked because of Vaughn, it was supposed to be a foretelling of Cora's leaving, and her relationship with Vice cracking under the pressure, too (which was partly caused by Keir, Vaughn and Dallas, that she had to go search for her Nobody, when it was also their fault that the locket had been cracked). It's important to note, however, that despite the locket's cracking, it never completely broke.

**The red ribbon**- Mystery and deceit. Like how a ribbon is almost entirely two-dimensional, it was Vice working for two sides, all to eventually destroy Apollyon. It also represents Apollyon's inability to see past the exterior, which is why he will only go after Thomas's heart, because he believes it to be all the power he needs. Just like he couldn't see Vice through the ribbon, he couldn't see through other people and the strength of their hearts as well. When he burns it, Vice destroys all ties he ever had to Apollyon.

**Umeko's ring**- Although it wasn't mentioned too much in this story, I mentioned that Umeko would play with her ring whenever she got nervous, or they were about to go into a large fight or predicament. Just like how one would feel before they're about to be wed, it represents nervousness, doubt, but a guidance through light shining beyond all that and somewhat of an inner voice being an ultimate guidance. It represents that, even knowing that things might go horribly wrong, there's always a spark of hope.

**Cora and Kione's bet**- This part was pretty straightforward, as it represented competition, but I did add a deeper meaning. If you were to ever find your 'other half', would you ever make a bet with it? It's less about the bet, but more about challenging yourself; through Cora's making this bet with Kione, she was challenging herself to finding Vice, defeating Apollyon and bringing Kione back to herself. The best goals and challenges are the ones you make for yourself, after all.

**Mirrors**- Mirrors were possibly the most important symbolism in the entire story, as they both represented Kione being a part of Cora, and lies versus truth. I say lies versus truth because mirrors are supposed to show you for exactly what you are, no matter how ugly the truth, but in the mirror room, the mirrors showed you for more than that, something that you have been (such as a Nobody or a Heartless that have already been born), something that you are, like a regular mirror would, and something that you could have been had you gotten your heart stolen (for example, Blaise when he sees his possible Nobody in the front mirror and a wimpy Shadow to his right).

**Smoke**- Much like the red ribbon, the smoke represented mysteries, but also the coming of destruction. That's why it was such an important element in the last chapter, with both shrouding Apollyon from the others, making it difficult to find him, and foretelling the destruction of the tower. This, of course, goes hand-in-hand with the mirrors concept, as alone, smoke and mirrors are beautiful and interesting things, but together they cause confusion, tricks and illusion. You have to be clever to see through smoke and mirrors, which was exactly what Cora, Umeko and Vice were during the final battle.

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**New Fanfiction Name**

I debated this for a while, and decided to make a new fanfiction name to put a new series into. I made it a couple of days ago so I wouldn't have to deal with the unbearable two day waiting period now. The new series is going to be a challenge for me as a writer; my goal is to improve my writing, characters, ideas, etc. through this new Kingdom Hearts series. Probably cut down on the OCs, too. xD

My new fanfiction name is DanceKristiDance. I might have the new story started tomorrow or the next day, or if you're lucky tonight, but I've already done so much writing today... xD So please alert and such to that name if you want to see the new story!

Again, thank you so much to my reviewers and readers. I wouldn't have kept going with this story without you guys.


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